Jannah Theme License is not validated, Go to the theme options page to validate the license, You need a single license for each domain name.
Warning: Undefined variable $tags in /efs/html/prd/ar_655/wp-content/themes_prd/365scores-magazine/templates/single-post/head.php on line 65
> AFCAFC NorthNFL

Cleveland Browns 2025 NFL Season Preview and Picks: Does Kevin Stefanski Survive This Quarterback Mess?

Photo of Scott Kacsmar Scott Kacsmar25/07/2025 - 01:03 pm
CLEVELAND, OH - DECEMBER 29: Cleveland Browns defensive end Myles Garrett (95) takes the field prior to the National Football League game between the Miami Dolphins and Cleveland Browns on December 29, 2024, at Huntington Bank Field in Cleveland, OH.
(Photo by Frank Jansky/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

Kevin Stefanski is the only Cleveland Browns coach to make multiple NFL playoff appearances since Marty Schottenheimer in the 1980s. But the two-time Coach of the Year winner has his work cut out for him with this year’s team after a wild draft and offseason drama that is only starting to unfold for a team widely projected to finish last in the AFC North.

The Browns were only 3-14 last year, but their grand prize for such a miserable season was neither a franchise quarterback nor the draft’s most interesting player in Travis Hunter. Instead, they accepted a trade down with Jacksonville to land Michigan defensive tackle Mason Graham.

Yet if you listen to some Cleveland fans, they think they got that franchise quarterback anyway. He just happened to slide to the fifth round after Colorado’s Shedeur Sanders stole the draft headlines with his historic slide. That’s a bold strategy, as the fifth round has been a bigger quarterback graveyard than the one Myles Garrett keeps for the passers he’s sacked.

The famous Browns quarterback jersey could be getting some new additions with three new quarterbacks in town that we have to talk about, and the league’s second-oldest quarterback may end up being the Week 1 starter as he attempts to recreate some 2023 magic.

The Browns are so comically inept that they did a helmet reveal this week only for the cameraman covering it to fall off a raft into the water. Some are saying it was completely planned to go viral, too, so that’s about the state of where things are for society in 2025.

Expectations are not high at all for the Browns, but let’s give them an honest look and see what stands out for their best 2025 bets.

Previously on BROWNS: The Jameis Winston Reputation Repairment Process Must Be Studied

For a 3-14 season, the 2024 Browns at least had some fun games to watch. It’s just that they all happened to have Jameis Winston at quarterback, a move Stefanski probably wishes he could have done earlier, as the offense once again played terribly with Deshaun Watson under center. This has been the trend since 2022 as Stefanski’s offense has been largely solid with other quarterbacks.

In fact, Watson could learn something from the way Jameis plays the game with such enthusiasm and little care about making mistakes. With some of his own off-field demons hurting his reputation in the past, Winston has actually earned some appreciation as a comical character in the NFL, good for some memes. From eating W’s to eating the snow last season.

The Browns may have only won three games last year, but two of them were huge upsets in the division. He came out in his first start against Baltimore with the team going 1-6 under Watson and threw for 334 yards and the game-winning touchdown pass. Sure, he got away with a game-ending interception that Kyle Hamilton dropped, but that’s the kind of volatile results you get with Jameis.

Then Winston led the upset win over the Steelers on a Thursday night in the snow. He also had that memorable shootout in Denver with 497 yards, 4 touchdowns, and 3 interceptions (two returned for touchdowns) in a 41-32 loss – the full Jameis experience. Jerry Jeudy had the all-time revenge game that night with 235 receiving yards, and that helped him to a career year with 1,229 receiving yards and his first Pro Bowl.

But after that Denver game, the Browns were 0-5 and only averaged 8.0 points per game in that span. No team in the NFL threw more passes than Cleveland in 2024, and no offense averaged fewer points or yards per drive than the Browns either.

That’s why many things are changing this year, including Winston leaving for the Giants. Hopefully, he doesn’t take all the exciting Cleveland games with him.

2025 Browns: If You Have Five Quarterbacks, You Actually Have None

This is practically unheard of in the NFL, but the 2025 Browns have a whole handful of quarterbacks we have to talk about for their roster this season. This is really not a good problem for a team to have, but you can’t deny they have options to sort through.

The good news is we can spend the least time talking about Deshaun Watson. He ruptured his Achilles in October, then apparently re-ruptured it to force a second surgery in January, so he probably won’t see the field at all this year. He won’t be missed either.

Deshaun Watson #4 of the Cleveland Browns throws a pass during the Cleveland Browns mandatory veteran minicamp at CrossCountry Mortgage Campus on June 07, 2023 in Berea, Ohio.
(Photo by Nick Cammett/Diamond Images via Getty Images)

In March, the Browns made the curious move to trade quarterback Dorian Thompson-Robinson and a fifth-round pick to the Eagles in exchange for Kenny Pickett, the former Pitt standout and a quarterback the Steelers gave up on after two seasons where he had the lowest passing touchdown percentage (1.8%) in NFL history.

Pickett can compete for the starting job, and given Stefanski’s success with quarterbacks not named Watson, maybe he can get something out of him that the Steelers missed. But Pickett has trouble staying healthy and finishing games. He isn’t overly accurate or great at getting the ball down the field. He’s usually good for literally one touchdown drive a game and has had a few clutch moments, but the odds of him working out well here are not great.

Joe Flacco became a little bit of a folk hero in 2023 when he got off the couch to join the team after Watson was injured and led them to the playoffs. Flacco was consistently prolific in his five starts with the Browns, averaging 323.2 passing yards per game and throwing 13 touchdowns to 8 interceptions. Basically, an older Jameis Winston type of output.

CLEVELAND, OH - DECEMBER 28: Joe Flacco #15 of the Cleveland Browns celebrates during an NFL football game against the New York Jets at Cleveland Browns Stadium on December 28, 2023 in Cleveland, Ohio.
(Photo by Cooper Neill/Getty Images)

Of course, it didn’t end well in the playoffs after Flacco threw a pair of picks for touchdowns in a blowout loss. He didn’t look good in Indianapolis last season, but the Browns brought him back for 2025. He’s 40 years old and will be closer to 41 by Week 1, but there’s also a good chance he’s the Week 1 starter given the competition here.

In April’s draft, the Browns had their choice of quarterbacks after Cam Ward went No. 1 to Tennessee. Many had Shedeur Sanders as the No. 2 quarterback in the class, and the Browns eventually got him, but it happened in the wildest way ever as he slid to pick 144 in the fifth round.

We covered Sanders’ slide in detail after the draft. It was likely a combination of teams not wanting to deal with his dad, Deion, not wanting to deal with this drama from a backup, and him being an overrated prospect after going 13-12 at Colorado.

INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA - FEBRUARY 28: Shedeur Sanders #QB13 of Colorado speaks at the podium during the 2025 NFL Combine at the Indiana Convention Center on February 28, 2025 in Indianapolis, Indiana.
(Photo by Brooke Sutton/Getty Images)

Sanders has already talked about how his career could compare to Tom Brady, who infamously was drafted in the sixth round with the No. 199 pick by the Patriots in 2000. But good luck to Sanders if he thinks he can repeat that success, as the fifth round has been absolutely dreadful for producing a decent NFL quarterback.

Well, maybe one way Sanders will already compare to Brady is needing the Browns to carry him as a fourth quarterback his rookie year, something teams almost never do. Making things even crazier is the fact that the Browns drafted quarterback Dillon Gabriel (Oregon) in the third round with the 94th pick. There’s a good chance the Browns are going to have to keep four quarterbacks to start the season in Flacco, Pickett, Gabriel, and Sanders.

Sanders kind of hijacked the draft spotlight from more deserving players, and we don’t need to let him hijack this team preview either. There’s a good chance he sits on the bench all year as a QB3 or QB4. There’s also a chance the Browns start so poorly that maybe Stefanski gets fired during the season, and the team starts Sanders for some games in December to give the fans what they want.

Either way, Sanders is going to have to work on winning over the locker room. He’s already made negative headlines with multiple speeding tickets in June, prompting GM Andrew Berry to say, “It’s just not smart” on Sanders’ part.

Frankly, Flacco should probably start the season as the grizzled vet who knows the offense already. The Browns replaced offensive coordinator Ken Dorsey by promoting tight ends coach Tommy Rees to that position, but this is still going to be Stefanski’s offense by design.

Flacco is the best choice to sling it to those wide receivers like Jeudy, Cedric Tillman, and the team added another diva in Diontae Johnson, who is on his fifth team since leaving the Steelers after the 2023 season. He played for three teams (Panthers, Ravens, Texans) in 2024 alone.

But with Flacco, it’s also true that he has not started 10 games in a season since 2017, so there is a good chance we see multiple quarterbacks start for this team. Plus, it’s the Browns. Starting multiple quarterbacks is what they do.

I just hope a genuinely decent coach like Stefanski doesn’t feel pressured to start a quarterback who isn’t ready (Sanders) as it’s sure felt like he’s had to play Watson against his wishes these last few years.

Cleveland Browns Offseason Review

Remember right after the insane Luka Doncic trade to the Lakers, when Myles Garrett publicly posted his trade demand with the expressed desire to win? That was even before the Super Bowl happened. Well, a 4-year extension worth $160 million is sure to calm those desires as Garrett is stuck with the Browns through the 2030 season now.

So, the Browns’ first move was to keep their best player in town. But even if you ignore all the quarterback drama, the Browns still had one of the most eventful draft classes of any team this year, as they had five selections in the top 94 picks.

Did Cleveland Botch the Draft at the Top?

Say what you will about the quarterback picks in this draft, the real litmus test for judging how Cleveland did in 2025 may be what they chose to do with that No. 2 pick. Many thought the Browns would take Travis Hunter, thought by many to be the best player in this draft, with his ability to play corner and wide receiver at a high level after he just won the Heisman Trophy at Colorado.

Do the Browns technically have a WR1 in Jerry Jeudy and a CB1 in Denzel Ward? Yes, but you can never have enough good corners in the NFL, and Ward is going into Year 8. Also, Jeudy may prove to be a one-year wonder who was propped up by Winston’s fearless passing. There’s also a strong argument that you can never have enough good wideouts in this league, too.

Hunter could have been a valuable player for Cleveland, but they opted to move down to the No. 5 pick and take Mason Graham, the defensive tackle from Michigan. The Browns also signed veteran Maliek Collins (49ers) in free agency, so revamping that interior and putting these guys next to Garrett sounds like a reasonable plan for strengthening the trenches.

But while Graham was the highest-ranked defensive tackle in 2025, is he truly going to be a dominant force like an Aaron Donald or Warren Sapp? He only had 9.0 sacks in college, and while those defenses were very successful, they also were loaded with other NFL draft picks, and the Big Ten doesn’t have the same quarterback talent as the loaded AFC. If you’re taking a player in the top five, you need some real pass rush ability, and it’s not a sure thing that Graham will live up to that hype.

That Hunter trade is going to be looked back on for a long time. It’s always possible he flames out in his attempt to play both positions, but it’s also more than likely he excels at one of those positions at the very least.

This one could go down as a big tactical error for the Browns, who don’t have a good track record under GM Andrew Berry. They also used the No. 33 pick on UCLA linebacker Carson Schwesinger, who was ranked highly as an off-ball linebacker in this draft. He’s likely to start Week 1 for returning defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz, who is going to need much better results than he got from this unit last year.

The Rest of the Cleveland Browns’ 2025 Draft Class

Beyond the curious decisions to pass on Hunter and draft two quarterbacks, the Browns also drafted two running backs after letting veteran Nick Chubb (Texans) go. But this decision may already be working in their favor, albeit for the worst reasons.

Ohio State running back Quinshon Judkins was one of the top backs in this class, and that’s why the Browns took him with the No. 36 pick. But earlier this month, he was arrested in Florida on charges of domestic violence, which already jeopardized his career before it even started in the NFL.

The Browns also used a fourth-round pick on Tennessee running back Dylan Sampson. They still have veteran Jerome Ford, too, so if there’s any discipline coming for Judkins early, that could help Sampson get a bigger role. But this isn’t a nice start to the post-Chubb era.

Finally, the Browns used a high third-round pick on Bowling Green tight end Harold Fannin Jr. He was incredibly productive in his final college season with 117 catches in 2024 for 1,555 yards. But he’ll have to learn from David Njoku to expand his route tree and make an impact in Cleveland.

CLEVELAND, OHIO - DECEMBER 28: Joe Flacco #15 of the Cleveland Browns looks to pass as he is pressured by Quinnen Williams #95 of the New York Jets during the first half at Cleveland Browns Stadium on December 28, 2023 in Cleveland, Ohio.
(Photo by Nick Cammett/Diamond Images via Getty Images)

Best Bets for the 2025 Browns

It probably goes without saying that I’m picking the Browns to miss the playoffs. It’s not even worth betting as you’re only getting -1600 odds at FanDuel for Cleveland to miss the playoffs this year.

The more interesting bet is over/under 5.5 wins with the juice on the under. If you take away Flacco’s 4-1 record in 2023 with the Browns, he’s only 9-23 in his other starts since 2017. The only year he didn’t have a losing record was that 2023 season in Cleveland, which he’ll try to recreate this year.

The schedule sure isn’t going to help the Browns. We know the division is one of the best, and the Ravens still have a lot of elite talent. The Bengals are looking for a faster start, and the Steelers added Aaron Rodgers, D.K. Metcalf, and some veteran corners. There aren’t a lot of wins in those games, even after the Browns snuck out two last year behind Winston.

But the 2025 schedule is arguably tougher as the AFC North is playing the NFC North, last year’s historic division where the top three teams were a combined 40-11 with many of the losses to each other, and the Bears should be better. The Browns also have to play teams like the Bills and 49ers, who are just clearly superior to them.

Cleveland’s first six games are Bengals, at Ravens, Packers, at Lions, Vikings, and at Steelers. That’s why a quick pull for Flacco wouldn’t be a big surprise.

As for finding six wins on this schedule, I guess they could always pull off two AFC North upsets again. They could beat Minnesota overseas if J.J. McCarthy is overrated. The Jets, Raiders, and Titans are winnable games later in the season. But will the team already be checked out by then?

I’ll take the under 5.5 wins and for the Browns to finish fourth in the AFC North. The latter should be one of the safest last-place bets this year.

  • NFL Pick: Cleveland Browns under 5.5 wins (-140) at FanDuel
  • NFL Pick: Cleveland Browns to finish fourth in AFC North (-220) at FanDuel

Related Articles:

Tags
Photo of Scott Kacsmar Scott Kacsmar25/07/2025 - 01:03 pm