The Cleveland Browns made a couple of moves to their quarterback room this offseason, first adding Kenny Pickett via a trade with the Philadelphia Eagles before signing veteran Joe Flacco to a one-year deal.
Adding quarterbacks was a key priority for general manager Andrew Berry, who urged the need for competition in the room after lackluster quarterback play in 2024. Former starter Deshaun Watson suffered a setback in his Achilles injury recovery, and could miss the entire 2025 season. Even if he returns, he probably won’t be reinserted into the lineup.
While Flacco’s incentive-based deal indicated to many that he was expected to start for the Browns this season, Pickett shared his expectations to start this season at his alma mater Pitt’s spring game earlier this month.
“That’s the plan, man,” Pickett said about staring, via the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. “I’m not going there to hang out. I want to go play. I’m excited, been working hard for it, taking it a day at a time.”
With the draft coming up, let’s look at the Pickett trade and see the return on both sides.
Original trade terms for Kenny Pickett and Dorian Thompson-Robinson
- Cleveland receives: QB Kenny Pickett
- Philadelphia receives: QB Dorian Thompson-Robinson, 2025 fifth-round pick
The fifth-round pick eventually settled in at No. 164 overall after all was said and done.
What did the Eagles do with the pick from the Kenny Pickett trade?
The Eagles traded the pick as part of their deal to move up from 32 to 31 in the first round of the 2025 NFL Draft and take Alamaba LB Jihaad Campbell. have yet to make a selection with the fifth-round pick. We will update this post once that pick is made.
The fifth-rounder did not originate from the Browns, however. Cleveland originally got the fifth-rounder in a trade with the Detroit Lions for edge rusher Za’Darius Smith.
We will update when the Chiefs make the pick.
How did each team fare from the trade of Kenny Pickett and Dorian Thompson-Robinson?
Neither side has reaped the rewards of the deal yet, but the Eagles flipped Kenny Pickett just one offseason after acquiring him via trade from the Pittsburgh Steelers.
In that deal, the Eagles got Pickett and a 2024 fourth-rounder (No. 120) for a 2024 third-rounder (No. 98) and two 2025 seventh-round picks (Nos. 223 and 229).
Using the Drafttek trade value chart, Pickett was equivalent to a fourth-round pick, and he’s now being traded for a fifth-round pick to Cleveland alongside quarterback Dorian Thompson-Robinson.
So, that’s pretty identical value for Philadelphia, which got one year of backup play from Pickett at a backup position that is seeing more and more investment from NFL teams.
They now also get another cheap backup quarterback option in Dorian Thompson-Robinson, while adding a mid-Day 3 pick in a draft that has strong depth.
As for the Browns, they still have 10 selections in the 2025 NFL Draft, and the additions of Pickett and Flacco decrease the need to draft a quarterback early, although that’s still a possibility.
While neither option is a frontline or even average-level starter, it’s a stopgap option at the position.
