As anyone who follows the Cleveland Browns knows, the quarterback position has been a sore spot for decades. Yet it’s sometimes easy to forget just how bad it’s been.
This season, the underwhelming combination of Joe Flacco, Dillon Gabriel, and Shedeur Sanders arguably didn’t make things worse. But it certainly didn’t make things better, either.
A troubling streak has put all of the past and present Browns quarterbacks in the spotlight, as the team holds the NFL record for the most consecutive seasons outside the top 10 in passer rating.
“The Browns have ranked outside the top 10 in passer rating in 30 straight seasons, the longest streak in NFL history. That last time they ranked in the top 10 was in 1992 when Bill Belichick was their head coach and Bernie Kosar was their quarterback. Not even ‘Pro Bowl’ selection Shedeur Sanders could snap that streak,” Douglas Clawson wrote.
This season, the Browns ranked dead last in passer rating for a second straight season. In 2025, their rating of 70.0 was five points lower than the next-worst team, the New York Jets, who ended their season with undrafted free agent Brady Cook running their offense.
The Browns didn’t fare much better running the ball, as they ranked 27th in total rushing yards and 28th in yards per attempt. That is one of the main reasons Todd Monken was hired as their new head coach after serving as the Baltimore Ravens’ offensive coordinator for the past three seasons.
He and his new offensive staff will find the cupboard relatively bare at quarterback. Sanders will return after an uninspiring rookie season, and Deshaun Watson remains on the roster as a potential alternative. Gabriel, on the other hand, could be a candidate to be let go.
Despite making just seven starts and throwing more interceptions than touchdown passes, Sanders did, in fact, earn an invitation to the 2026 Pro Bowl Games. But that says much more about that sideshow event than it does about Sanders’ potential future.
Unfortunately, there aren’t going to be many viable solutions available this offseason. The quarterback class in the 2026 NFL Draft is far weaker than it could have been, and the free agent and trade market looks to be shaping up as very thin as well.
So, it’s very possible that the Browns will continue this ignominious streak for at least one more season.
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