The Cleveland Browns have a unique quarterback situation in 2025.
With Deshaun Watson shelved for the foreseeable future with an Achilles tear, general manager Andrew Berry signed veteran free agents Joe Flacco and Kenny Pickett and drafted Dillon Gabriel and Shedeur Sanders in the third and fifth rounds, respectively.
Now, through the first phase of the offseason, heading into training camp, none of the four seem to be setting themselves apart from the rest, leading to a lot of speculation of "gloom and doom" for the quarterback room.
NFLTradeRumors.com's Logan Ulrich thinks this room will go up in flames and the Browns will be in search of a new name for 2026.
"The Browns threw a bunch of darts at the quarterback position," Ulrich wrote. "None of them were expensive, but that means Cleveland will likely get what they paid for. If it turns out the team didn't land a winning scratch-off ticket, they'll be right back in the mix in 2026, although with a little more ammunition and motivation to be bigger players."
Ulrich isn't completely out of his mind here, if we're going solely based on contracts.
It's not always true in the NFL that you "get what you pay for." There are plenty of contracts every year where the player outplays their value. But the opposite is true each season, too.
Flacco signed for one year and $4.25 million, by all practical comparisons a budget "starting quarterback" deal. Pickett was traded from the Philadelphia Eagles, and his still on his four-year, $14.1 million rookie deal he signed with the Pittsburgh Steelers in 2022, but he'll earn roughly $2.6 million next season.
Then there are the rookies.
As a third-round pick, Gabriel signed a four-year, $6.2 million deal, and Sanders signed a four-year, $4.6 million contract as a fifth-rounder.
None of these are highly paid quarterbacks, and if Ulrich is right, and the Browns truly get what they paid for here, then Cleveland could be in trouble.
But it all seems very far-fetched to me.