Joe Thomas: How the Cleveland Browns’ QB Competition Could Play Out | The Rich Eisen Show

Joe Thomas: How the Cleveland Browns’ QB Competition Could Play Out | The Rich Eisen Show

Real quick on the Browns, I I I would say right now, and I’m not trying to do bulletin board stuff, that if Joe Flacco starts week one, Browns play the Bengals at home week one. We know how the Bengals start. We know how other than last year and maybe the year before that, the Browns have had the Bengals number, especially in Cleveland. I tell you right now, if Joe Flacco starts, I I am confident Quinnshine or no Quinn Sean, the Browns are going to win that game. My question is, Joe, and I’m not saying just throw the kids in because the first six weeks are brutal on the schedule, but like is that sustainable? And is it if you’re looking longterm and you have to is it the best thing for the team to say, Joe Flacco, this is your team and and just go. I mean, at one point, if you’re drafting two rookie quarterbacks, you have to see what one or both of them can do, right? Yeah. I’ve been in that situation quite a few times during my career where you’ve got a veteran quarterback who you feel pretty comfortable with, at least being able to manage the team and get you guys into the right plays, throw the ball to the right receiver. And certainly, Faco, I think, is that and more. And I think he can win a lot of games for the Browns. But I think the best strategy is you give him the keys and say, “Hey, this is your team, Joe.” And you don’t ever look back. You don’t ever look in any other direction. But obviously, as the season goes along, you’re evaluating every throw he makes. And you’re also watching the young guys in practice and you’re trying to figure out how ready can they be. And then depending on how the team is playing, how everybody’s meshing, how these young receivers are coming along because I think they got one of the better receiving groups that we’ve seen in Cleveland in a while. Obviously Jerry Judy had a little bit of a breakout year last year. Cedric Tilman’s playing better. You got Deontay Johnson this year. David Andoku still there at tight end. So you got some good pass catchers, some good weapons. They’re going to lean, I think, a little bit more on the run game no matter what happens with Quinn Sean Judkins. Um, and so this is a team on offense that has a lot of good young players and it’s a matter of how are they meshing, how are they playing, are they able to produce points and numbers and if they do hit a little bit of a skid and maybe they’re starting to be on the outside looking into the playoff hunt, it’s going to be, I think, really important for the future for next year to start saying, “Okay, we need to play one of these young quarterbacks.” Because as you know, being a Browns fan like me, when they traded out of that pick in the the second pick and they traded back and um they picked up a first round pick next year, that was so that they have flexibility in the 2026 draft to be able to go up and grab a quarterback of the future for a high first round draft pick to be the future guy if one of these young guys, whether it be Kenny Picket or Dylan Gabriel or Shadur Sanders, doesn’t become a standout where you say, “Yep, we found our franchise. guy. We We didn’t have to waste a first round pick. Now we build around them. And so, it’s really important to know how good these young players, whoever is going to be the best of them, perform down the stretch to see what type of potential they have and if they can be that long-term answer at quarterback. So, you really have to answer that question at quarterback at some point this year. But, I don’t think you ever want anybody to feel like they have to look over their shoulder from Joe Flacco’s perspective. He knows he’s been in the the game long enough. He knows these guys are breathing down his neck and the team is going to look to make that change to find out what they got and Shadur Sanders and Dylan Gabriel and maybe even Kenny Picket. Um, so you don’t have to tell him that. You just want to make sure that nobody on the offense, especially the pass catchers, are wondering and waiting like, “All right, when’s the next guy coming in?” Right? You want to get the most out of him and you want them just focus on what’s right in front of him in that moment. Who’s my quarterback right now? And then if you need to make the switch, you do it under the cover of darkness and you walk in one day and you say, “Hey, Shadur Sanders is our quarterback going forward. That’s the way it is. Let’s move on.” Just like Belich, “Hey, we’re moving on to Cincinnati. This is what we got and this is who we’re moving forward with.” Because like you said, you got to find out about those young guys because of that extra first round pick that you do have in 2026. Yeah. Organizationally, if you take Dylan Gabriel at 94 and then at 144, so 50 picks later, Shidor Sanders, you need to know what you have at one point. The question is is when is that point? And and look, maybe with Joe Flacco or Kenny Picket, either veteran, that you are two and four after the first six. I don’t think that’s going to happen, but the first six games are brutal. We we had it up on the screen before. You got Cincinnati at home. That’s fine. You’re at Baltimore week 2. I’d rather be at Baltimore week two than say week 18 last year. That game was just worthless and it was 5° and you know hope you it could have ended at halftime. It would have been great if it did. But week three then you get Green Bay at home and then you go to Detroit and then you go to London to face a rested Vikings team and then you come back to face a Steelers team that is coming off a buy because they had been in in Ireland two weeks earlier. Those first six are awful. But Joe Flacco does throw the prettiest pass. Like we know that like Joe Flacco could be 50 years old and off his couch again and his kids could be in college at that point and he can walk into an NFL training camp and still throw the prettiest ball. Catch the Rich Eisen Show live weekdays from 12 to 3:00 p.m.

Pro Football Hall of Famer/NFL Network analyst Joe Thomas and Rich Eisen Show Guest Host Andrew Siciliano discuss how the Cleveland Browns 4-man QB competition could play out.

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