In Cleveland, the quarterback room feels more like a casting call for a gritty sports drama than a depth chart. Kenny Pickett, the former ‘hometown hero’ turned NFL journeyman, walked into his first Browns minicamp with gloves on and expectations even heavier. Meanwhile, Shedeur Sanders—a legacy name with arm talent to match—is buried at QB4. The city’s buzzing, not with hope, but with questions: Who’s next? Who’s lost? And who got set up to fail before the season even began?

The NFL offseason is supposed to be a time of hope, but in the Dawg Pound, it’s more like a Replacements-level drama: ‘Pain heals, chicks dig scars, glory lasts forever’… unless you’re Kenny Pickett or Shedeur Sanders, caught in a spiral of gloves, grudges, and gridiron politics and in the AFC North, where winters bite and patience thins, only one truth remains: glory isn’t given—it’s grabbed, one bloody knuckle at a time.

Let’s start with Pickett, the Steelers castoff turned Browns reclamation project. After a rocky 2024 (291 pass yards, 2 TDs, 59.5% comp), Cleveland traded for him, betting he’d revive the magic of his Pitt days—12,303 yards, 81 TDs, and that iconic fake-slide TD that broke college football. But camp opened with Pickett practicing under Joe Flacco’s shadow, a 40-year-old Super Bowl MVP who dropped 1,761 yards and 12 TDs last year.

Meanwhile, Sanders—Deion’s son, CU legend (4,134 yards, 37 TDs in 2024)—is stuck in a fifth-round nightmare. Drafted 144th after a brutal slide, he’s QB4 behind Flacco, Pickett, and third-rounder Dillon Gabriel. RGIII didn’t hold back: “It’s horrible… they set him up to fail.” Like Friday Night Lights’ ‘every man at some point…’ speech, but grimier. Sanders’ sin? Skipping the Combine and allegedly ‘entitled’ interviews. Yet his college résumé sparkles: 70.1% comp, 134 TDs, and a Golden Arm Award—the same honor as Pickett.

Cleveland’s 2025 depth chart is a Game of Thrones maze: “You win or you die.”

Browns’ Pickett quagmire: Gloves, grit, and growing pains

“Bro, I thought it was all s— talk but yo Kenny’s hands are really small…” — @RobertVasquez’s tweet hit X like a blitzing linebacker, capturing the chaos engulfing Cleveland’s QB room, Fans truly weren’t having it. “Kenny hands man that shit embarrassing” tweeted @Brad, roasting Pickett’s 8½-inch mitts—smallest among active QBs. Even his staunchest defenders, like @JabroniFromCLE, sighed: “pickett can go resign with the steelers.” It’s Oceans 11 meets The Longest Yard: a heist for relevance, but the vault’s empty.

Fan fury peaked when Sanders lost his iconic No. 2 jersey to a vet, settling for No. 12. “Show us the guy y’all had pinned on Instagram,” @B1GApe demanded, echoing the disillusionment. Even Travis Kelce and Tom Brady rallied behind Shedeur, but the Browns brass remains unmoved. RGIII nailed it: “Guys that are drafted in the fifth round typically don’t make NFL rosters. And if they do make NFL rosters, it’s because they showed their absolute talent in the preseason and all through training camp in the offseason,” It’s Rocky IV training minus the montage—just cold Cleveland mornings and a playbook thicker than Lake Erie ice while @Kinggodsu quipped, “how you gotta wear gloves in the summer lol.”

Football, at its core, is a dance of chaos and hope. Pickett, with his baby hands and faded hype, clings to Flacco’s wisdom like a rookie to a playcall. Sanders, the prince exiled to the practice squad, fights for snaps like every rep’s fourth-and-goal. The Browns? They’re betting on legacy over logic, veterans over vibes.