At the moment, Cleveland has four quarterbacks on the roster, and with the NFL trade deadline coming up in just over a month, one of them could be on the move.
The question is which one, because the pros and cons look very different depending on the name attached.
Deshaun Watson is the toughest case to imagine. Plenty of Browns fans would love to see him gone, but Cleveland would need a massive offer to part with its QB1 after his hot start to the season.
The upside would be obvious: a happier fanbase and a likely all-in push toward taking a quarterback in the 2027 NFL Draft. The downside is just as clear.
Offense and winning would probably dip at first while the next quarterback gets comfortable in Todd Monken's system. That makes a midseason Watson trade feel very unlikely.
Shedeur Sanders has been part of the trade chatter too, especially after rumors picked up when New York Giants quarterback Jaxson Dart went down with a season-ending injury. Those rumors have since been shut down, and New York has moved on to J.J. McCarthy.
Browns aren't looking to trade Shedeur Sanders, per @RuiterWrongFAN. pic.twitter.com/UB35kUR2Hj
If Cleveland were to entertain moving Sanders, the biggest benefit would be whatever kind of trade package it could bring back. A higher draft pick could make the idea tempting.
But the list of drawbacks is a lot longer. His departure would not sit well with the fanbase, and it would also mean giving up on a potential future quarterback answer.
Sanders is also in a useful spot right now: sitting, watching, learning, and developing while the Browns figure things out around him. With the way this season has started, Monken looks like he could be in Cleveland for multiple years, and Watson is 31 and in the final year of his contract, which makes having a young backup developing now all the more important.
Of the four, Dillon Gabriel is the one who stands out as the most logical trade candidate. The upside to moving him starts with where he wants to be.
From the outside, it has been pretty easy to see through the media that Gabriel isn't happy in Cleveland. And after coming from Hawaii to Cleveland in the winter, that part isn't hard to understand.
There’s also the football angle. Gabriel turned in a strong showing in the final preseason game against the Patriots, throwing for three touchdowns in the first half.
If a team were to focus on that performance rather than his poor regular-season action last season, the Browns might be able to get a better return. The downside is mostly about optics: Cleveland used a third-round pick on him and would be moving on from him just a year later.
Taylen Green is the one who seems safest. The Browns simply are not moving him.
Any transaction would have to come by way of cutting the 2026 sixth-round pick, and Monken has also talked about using Green in specialized sets this season. That makes it pretty clear Green is staying put.
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