The Cleveland Browns needed to shake things up at quarterback.
They got the ball rolling by trading Dorian Thompson-Robinson to get Kenny Pickett, who most assumed would be a backup.
However, the Browns talked about him as the potential starter, and that didn’t change when they signed Joe Flacco and added Dillon Gabriel and Shedeur Sanders in the 2025 NFL Draft.
Pickett has gotten plenty of first-team reps in offseason practices, and the reports have been positive.
However, analyst Matt Fontana isn’t buying the hype.
Instead, he claimed the Browns might be trying to entice another team to trade for the QB.
“They’re continuing to push that narrative of Kenny Pickett, so they can trade him back out. I think they want to push that ‘Oh, Kenny can take this job.’ If the [Philadelphia] Eagles, who needed a quality backup and decided a guy named Tanner McKee was better than Kenny Pickett for the backup QB role, what does that say about Kenny Pickett?” Fontana said.
.@MattFontana83 is getting suspicious of these Kenny Pickett narratives
"If the Eagles, who needed a quality backup and decided a guy named Tanner McKee was better than Kenny Pickett for the backup QB role, what does that say?" pic.twitter.com/fyE3x7TRTQ
— Matt Fontana Show (@MattFontanaShow) June 30, 2025
As harsh as that may seem, Fontana does have a point.
Pickett hasn’t looked like a starting-caliber quarterback since he entered the league as a first-round pick in the 2022 NFL Draft.
While it’s fair to argue he was never put in a position to succeed with the Pittsburgh Steelers, there were already doubts about him when he was in college.
He recently turned 27 years old, and some QBs break out after struggling during the first stage of their career, so there’s still a chance that Pickett will turn out to be viable.
Then again, given the Browns’ current situation, perhaps they’re not the kind of team that can afford to roll the dice.
The Browns need a quarterback for the future, and if Pickett isn’t that guy, they can’t waste time acting like he is.
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