With a crowded (but not the highest-quality) quarterback room, the Cleveland Browns head into the summer with more questions then answers on who will be under center when Week 1 of the 2025 NFL season rolls around in just three-months.
If no moves are made, the likeliest candidate to get the first opportunity to lead Kevin Stefanski’s offense is reigning Super Bowl champion (albeit as Jalen Hurts’ backup) Kenny Pickett, who the Browns traded for, this past March (for Dorian Thompson-Robinson and a 2025 fifth-round pick).
Also on the roster are third-round rookie, Dillon Gabriel and the story of this past April’s draft, fifth-round pick, Shedeur Sanders.
In a trade proposal from ESPN, the Browns decide against going with Pickett or their young gunslingers and get their starting quarterback in the form of a former Pro Bowl signal caller that has fallen out of favor with his current team.
Cleveland Browns Receive: Kirk Cousins, 2026 Seventh-Round Pick
Atlanta Falcons Receive: Kenny Pickett, 2026 Sixth-Round Pick
In the proposed deal, the Browns would have their starter (at least for the beginning of the season) in Cousins, while allowing Sanders and Gabriel to battle through training camp, the pre-season, and during practices throughout the regular season to be Cousins’ backup and future successor.
For the Falcons, the deal is a no-brainer. Michael Penix Jr. doesn’t have to look over his shoulder if he struggles out of the gate, the club gets off Cousins’ $154 million that’s still due through the end of the 2027 season, and they secure a late-round pick in addition to a solid backup for Penix in Pickett.
Despite losing his job just months after signing a four-year, $180 million deal with the Falcons, Cousins would have to approve any proposed deal, but he’d likely have no issues with heading to Cleveland, where he’d be a virtual lock to be the Browns’ unquestioned Week 1 starting signal caller.
It’s worth noting Cousins sat out of the Falcons’ voluntary OTAs in hopes of accelerating a trade getting done.
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