For a team with so many question marks at quarterback heading into the offseason, it made sense for the Cleveland Browns to bring in four different options in Joe Flacco, Kenny Pickett, Dillon Gabriel, and Shedeur Sanders between free agency and the draft.
Teams don’t often carry four legitimate quarterback options, so while Gabriel and Sanders will have plenty of time to get their feet wet and prove they can potentially be this team’s next franchise quarterback, it’s fair to wonder if one of the two veterans could eventually be on the move.
Lead CBS NFL insider Jonathan Jones recently said that the New Orleans Saints have now become an interesting potential destination for one of these Browns quarterbacks after the surprising retirement announcement from Derek Carr.
“One name that I’ll just throw out there to pay attention to, potentially, Kenny Pickett. Joe Flacco or Kenny Pickett is going to get dealt at some point because they’re not going to carry four quarterbacks. Someone is going to be expendable. Would it be the veteran Joe Flacco, or would it be Kenny Pickett who is already familiar with the head coach who is there in New Orleans?”
"You're gonna have to get a veteran in some way."@jjones9 explores potential Saints QB targets, including a name to look out for 👀 pic.twitter.com/jHvpd6zKUr
— NFL on CBS 🏈 (@NFLonCBS) May 10, 2025
Jones made the connection between Pickett and the Saints due to new Saints head coach Kellen Moore winning a Super Bowl as the Philadelphia Eagles’ offensive coordinator last season, where Pickett was his backup quarterback.
Carr’s retirement left the Saints with rookie second-round pick Tyler Shough as the likely Week 1 starter and Spencer Rattler and Jake Haener as his backups.
If New Orleans decides it would prefer to give Shough more time to develop, Pickett would make plenty of sense as a short-term solution.
It would also be a bit difficult to envision the Browns trading him so quickly after shipping a fifth-round pick to the Eagles for his services earlier this offseason.
No matter how you look at it, for a few of these quarterbacks, training camp and preseason could be auditions for work elsewhere.
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