CLEVELAND, Ohio — The Browns aren’t keeping four quarterbacks afterall.
They planned to, unless someone made them an offer they couldn’t refuse. When the Raiders offered them a fifth-round pick in 2026 for No. 2 quarterback Kenny Pickett on Monday evening, they jumped at the chance, a league source told cleveland.com. The Browns announced the trade themselves around 8:45 p.m.
It leaves the Browns with Joe Flacco as their starter, and rookies Dillon Gabriel, their third-round pick, and Shedeur Sanders, their fifth-round pick, as their backups. Both rookies played well enough at times in preseason to make Pickett expendable, especially Gabriel during Saturday’s dress rehearsal game, the 19-17 victory over the Rams.
The Browns might also add another more experienced backup such as Tyler Huntley, who’s contract they terminated on Sunday.
The Raiders developed a pressing need for a backup to quarterback to Geno Smith on Saturday night when their No. 2, Aidan O’Connell, fractured his wrist in their 20-10 loss to the Cardinals. He’s expected to be out at least eight weeks.
“He’s hurt and it is going to be a while,” Raiders coach Pete Carroll said. “It’s a huge blow for us.”
Rookie Cam Miller replaced O’Connell, but the Raiders wanted a more experienced backup.
The fifth-round pick the Browns got from the Raiders recoups the fifth-rounder they gave up in March to acquire Pickett, the No. 20 overall pick of the Steelers in 2022 out of Pitt, in the trade with the Eagles. They also gave up quarterback Dorian Thompson-Robinson in that swap.
Pickett came in as a favorite to the win the starting job as the Browns bridge quarterback, but suffered a hamstring injury on Day 4 of camp, and lost his chance for the Week 1 start. He missed team drills over the next 10 days, which paved the way for Flacco to win the job. He returned to some 11-on-11s on Tuesday, but wasn’t healthy enough to play in dress rehearsal game against the Rams.
The Browns expected Pickett to be back in team drills this week and available for backup duty Week 1 against the Bengals.
While Pickett and Gabriel were both sidelined with hamstring injuries, Sanders made an excellent start in the preseason opener against the Panthers, throwing two elite-level touchdown passes to first-year receiver Kaden Davis. He went 14 of 23 for 138 yards, with the two TDs and no interceptions for a stellar 106.8 rating. He put three touchdowns on the board in his nine drive and gave Browns fans hope that they may have found their quarterback of the future.
But Sanders suffered a strained oblique muscle in the first joint practice against the Eagles on Aug. 13, and was forced to sit out those two sessions and the second preseason game there on Aug. 16. With Pickett still ailing and Flacco resting, Gabriel started that game and played very well in some respects, but also turned the ball over twice, once on a 75-yard pick-six that wasn’t entirely his fault, and once on a botched exchange between him and running back Pierre Strong Jr. On the interception, tight end Blake Whiteheart ran his route too deep on a levels concept, winding up too close to receiver Diontae Johnson near the left sideline. Whiteheart also pulled back his hands, enabling the Eagles rookie safety Andrew to swoop in and pick it off.
Gabriel readily admitted he should’ve thrown the ball away, but showed other good things during that game, including mobility, arm strength and command of the offense.
Gabriel also replaced Flacco in the second quarter of Sunday’s 19-17 victory over the Rams, putting points on the board on both of his drives, a field goal and a 3-yard touchdown pass to rookie receiver Gage Larvadain. The TD capped an 11-play, 86 yard two-minute drive, on which Gabriel went 9-for-11 for 86 yards and notched six first downs. It was that textbook drive, featuring passes of 11, 11, 12 and 16 yards, that helped the Browns feel comfortable trading Pickett.
Sanders, shaking off the oblique strain, replaced Gabriel at the start of the second half, and struggled throughout his five drives, getting sacked five times and managing only one first down. Sanders went 3 of 6 for 14 yards, with no points on the board en route to a 56.2 rating. He was yanked just before a two-minute drive with 2:03 remaining, and showed his frustration in a big way on the sidelines. He asked Kevin Stefanski for a chance to go back in, but Stefanski shook his head, and gave Huntley the nod instead. The move paid off as Huntley led the Browns on a 6-play, 46-yard drive that ended in a 37-yard gamewinning field goal by backup kicker Andre Szmyt as time expired.
It marks the third time Pickett has been traded in his four-year career. He was first dealt to the Eagles during the 2023 season when the Steelers made it clear they were going with Russell Wilson as their starter for 2024. The Steelers received a 2024 third-round pick (No. 98) and two 2025 seventh-round picks for Pickett and a 2024 fourth-round pick (No. 120). The Eagles then shipped Pickett to Cleveland in March for the Browns fifth-round pick and their own former fifth-rounder in Thompson-Robinson.
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