All offseason long, the Browns have maintained the stance that they were willing to keep four quarterbacks on their initial 53-man roster, just as they did a year ago. However, the chances they went into Week 1 with all four were slim to none, and the talk was more to raise the price from potential suitors.
The Browns sent a fifth-round pick and Dorian Thompson-Robinson to Philadelphia for Kenny Pickett this offseason, though Thompson-Robinson was purely a throw-in who was likely to be cut either way. Pickett was the first quarterback in the room as a fail-safe option, but the addition of the other three made him expendable, especially after the hamstring injury that limited him all camp.
In the end, Cleveland was able to get their value back for Pickett, sending him to the Raiders before the cut-down deadline for a 2026 fifth-round pick, per NFL Network's Ian Rapoport.
Browns trade Kenny Pickett to Raiders for fifth-round pick
When camp started, the only way Pickett was going to stick on the roster was if he won the starting job, or both the rookies looked incapable of holding down the backup role behind Joe Flacco. Unfortunately for Pickett, his hamstring injury cost him any shot at the starting job, while Dillon Gabriel showed enough to give the Browns confidence in him as a backup.
Once Raiders backup quarterback Aidan O'Connell went down with a wrist injury, the Raiders became an obvious suitor for Pickett because of their need for a backup behind Geno Smith. On an expiring deal, it made all the sense in the world for the Browns to try and recoup their asset sent to get Pickett at the beginning of the offseason.
With Pickett removed from the mix entirely, the Browns are set to go with three quarterbacks on the initial 53-man roster. Flacco will start the year as the starter, while Gabriel will be the backup with Shedeur Sanders as the third string. Unless Flacco recaptures his magic and has the Browns in the hunt for a playoff spot all year, at least one of the rookie signal-callers is guaranteed to get action in 2025.