Who Should I Start? Joe Flacco or Kenny Pickett

Sunday, August 24, 7:04 AM

Cleveland Browns quarterback Joe Flacco completed nine of his 10 passes for 71 yards and a touchdown in a 19-17 preseason win over the Los Angeles Rams on Saturday. Flacco got the start and played into the second quarter, finding tight end Harold Fannin Jr. for a 15-yard touchdown midway through the first quarter. Making his only appearance of the preseason, Flacco has already been named the Browns' starting quarterback heading into Week 1 against the Cincinnati Bengals. He settles in as a high-end QB3 in fantasy heading into drafts as the Cleveland offense is not expected to be very explosive this season.

Monday, August 25, 8:18 PM

The Las Vegas Raiders are acquiring quarterback Kenny Pickett (hamstring) from the Cleveland Browns on Monday in exchange for a fifth-round pick in the 2026 NFL draft, sources tell Ian Rapoport of NFL Network. Geno Smith is the Raiders' unquestioned starter heading into the 2025 regular season in two weeks, but Pickett will now give the team plenty of backup experience after Aidan O'Connell (wrist) went down with a fractured right wrist that is expected to sideline him for six to eight weeks. Pickett himself has dealt with a hamstring injury that he suffered late in July that kept him out of all three of the Browns' preseason games, but he has a chance to be available for Week 1 for the Raiders against the New England Patriots. Back in Cleveland, this trade means that one of rookie signal-callers Dillon Gabriel or Shedeur Sanders will be the QB2 behind Joe Flacco to begin the year.