The Cleveland Browns made a surprising move by trading quarterback Joe Flacco to the Cincinnati Bengals, thus ending his second tenure with the team after just four starts.
Flacco was brought in to serve as a mentor and a bridge quarterback, but few could have seen that bridge being as short as it was.
Based on that, analyst Ken Carman recently explained how the Browns squandered their offseason and botched their QB roster.
“You’ve wasted a preseason, the four-quarterback thing was a total waste. After this last game, you barely threw the ball downfield with Dillon Gabriel, so that told me that you definitely did not want to start Dillon Gabriel when you started Dillon Gabriel. Why didn’t they just keep Kenny Pickett if we’re gonna do this? I’m not the world’s biggest Kenny Pickett fan, but if we’re just going to say what the h*** and give it a whirl, why don’t we just say what the h*** and give it a whirl with Kenny?” Carman said.
"You wasted a preseason, the 4 QB thing was a total waste. You clearly didn't want to start Dillon Gabriel when you did. Why didn't they just keep Kenny Pickett if we're gonna do this?"@KenCarman & @SportsBoyTony have plenty of questions with the #Browns QB situation🏈 pic.twitter.com/zACJyLqc7m
— 92.3 The Fan (@923TheFan) October 8, 2025
It’s a fair point, because if Flacco was only going to be around for four games, it would have been worth at least giving Pickett a chance to see if he could tap into something and potentially become a viable starting QB.
Pickett is much younger than Flacco and may have just needed a change of scenery to take the next step, but he never got a full chance with Cleveland before being traded to the Las Vegas Raiders.
Nobody thought the 40-year-old was going to start all 17 games, but it was a waste to send Pickett away so Flacco could make four starts.
Hopefully, Gabriel can make everybody forget about how this situation unfolded, but it’s tough to disagree with Carman when he looks at the QB situation this way.
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