The deadline for all 32 teams in the NFL to trim their rosters to 53 has passed, and Week 1 has started. During the first major roster decisions, the Cleveland Browns were one of the many teams that had difficult decisions to make. The one decision that surprised everyone is the QB room. There was a lot of speculation about how the Browns were going to handle the room, but the team decided to surprise everyone. Quarterbacks Deshaun Watson, Dillon Gabriel, Shedeur Sanders, and Taylen Green all stuck
around.
Watson, Sanders, and Green are on the 53-man roster, while Gabriel deals with a back injury that seemed to pop up out of nowhere.
The Browns aren’t the only team that kept four quarterbacks around:
Could that decision soon pay off?
Excluding Watson, due to his contract, the other QB’s on this roster were the talking point in terms of whether to keep them or not.
Let’s start with Shedeur Sanders. Sanders, who is the most popular QB in the room and the backup to Watson has been discussed at length. From “if he will be the starter” or “if the team will cut him”, it’s always a conversation. The information that we have gathered surrounding Sanders is that the team never planned to cut him at any point. In terms of trading Sanders, the team may not have received too many calls before the season started.
Another quarterback that has been the talk of trade rumors is Gabriel. As the QB battle between Sanders and Watson continued throughout training camp, Gabriel found himself on the outside looking in. Gabriel’s ceiling has already been defined as a backup quarterback. Considering that the Browns took another QB in this past draft, Gabriel became the talk of many trade/cut rumors. The 53-man roster has come out, and Gabriel was placed on the IR, keeping him around.
Taylen Green, who the team drafted in the sixth round, was a tricky situation. Green is uber athletic but raw as a passer. Considering how Green looked in the preseason finale, if the Browns chose to cut Green the talented quarterback probably wouldn’t have cleared waivers, as it’s likely another team would’ve claimed him. Like Gabriel, Green had rare opportunities to get practice reps, but when he got them, he made the most of it.
Now, with two games in the books for the 2026 NFL season, the need for quarterbacks around the league has already picked up. Sam Darnold was injured in the first half of the first game of the season. While he’s expected to be back soon, the vagueness of his hip injury is something to monitor. Former Cleveland HC Kevin Stefanski is already starting his third-string quarterback, Cooper Rush, with Michael Penix Jr. and Tua Tagovailoa hurt heading into their first contest.
While Watson’s contract makes him untradeable, the Browns decision to keep all four quarterbacks around could pay off if teams continue to see attrition at the position around the league. Could the stability of Gabriel intrigue a team enough to fork over a Day 2 or high Day 3 draft pick and/or a quality player, once the diminutive QB is off IR? Could the upside and excitement of either Sanders or Green see a team make a play for a different Cleveland backup?
The Browns may not have the quarterback of their future on the roster, but it is possible the depth of options they have at the position means they have the quarterback of another team’s immediate future.
