2025 Cleveland Browns NFL Week 1 Starting QB Odds: Who Will Win The Starting Line-Up?

The Cleveland Browns surprised many when they took not one, but two quarterback prospects in the 2025 NFL Draft. After taking Oregon’s Dillon Gabriel with the No. 94 pick, the Browns then took Colorado’s Shedeur Sanders with pick No. 144. Both Gabriel and Sanders are now expected to compete for the Browns’ Week 1 starting job with veterans Joe Flacco and Kenny Pickett, and if he makes a miraculous return from his Achilles injury, Deshaun Watson.

With the Browns set to enter training camp looking for the team’s Week 1 starting quarterback, Bookies.com veteran oddsmaker Adam Thompson has put together hypothetical  NFL betting odds for sports betting on who will be the starting quarterback for the Browns in the first week of the season this year.
 

This hypothetical NFL betting market is for entertainment purposes only and does not reflect any market that may be available on betting sites and betting apps.

Joe Flacco (+125)

Joe Flacco won the Comeback Player of the Year Award two seasons ago when he led the Browns to the playoffs, but the team let him go in free agency, and he signed with the Indianapolis Colts last year. After once again becoming a free agent, the Browns decided to bring Flacco back on a one-year deal for $4 million and give him a chance to regain the Browns’ starting QB job. Given his experience, winning pedigree, and the fact that he had such a strong run the first time he was in Cleveland, Flacco will be given every opportunity to be the Week 1 starter out of camp, and the betting odds suggest that Flacco will be under center in Week 1.

Shedeur Sanders (+275)

In a shocking fall from grace, Colorado’s Shedeur Sanders was passed on by 31 other NFL teams until the Browns took a shot at him in the fifth round. This is a true boom-or-bust draft pick for the Browns, as Sanders is a talented young QB, but reportedly has character concerns. Still, he has a lot of potential, and now that the Browns have drafted him, the team will give him a fair chance in training camp to win the starting QB job and be the Week 1 starter for Cleveland. This may end up looking like the steal of the draft if Sanders can prove the entire NFL world wrong and show that he deserved to be a Day 1 or Day 2 pick, not a Day 3 pick.

Dillon Gabriel (+350)

Oregon’s Dillon Gabriel was taken in the third round of the draft, two rounds ahead of Sanders. Like Sanders, Gabriel will be given every opportunity in training camp to win the starting job for Week 1. We will soon find out if the team made a smart pick taking him in the third round, or if the team reached for him and should have taken someone else with their third-round pick.

Kenny Pickett (+650)

Kenny Pickett was acquired from the Philadelphia Eagles this offseason in exchange for Dorian Thompson-Robinson and a fifth-round pick. Originally, it looked like Pickett would be competing with Flacco for the Week 1 starter role, but after the Browns drafted Gabriel and Sanders, it will be a tougher hill to climb for Pickett to win the job. Still, he will have a chance in training camp to earn the gig, and if he outshines Flacco and the two rookies, Pickett could start in Week 1.

Deshaun Watson (+900)

Deshaun Watson was the team’s starting quarterback for much of last season, and he is the Browns’ highest-paid QB by a long shot. That being said, he has not been effective since the Browns acquired him from the Houston Texans in a failed blockbuster trade several years ago, and to make matters worse, he underwent surgery this offseason to deal with a ruptured Achilles tendon. The odds for Watson being named the Week 1 starter are long, given his poor performance with the team to date, and also the fact that he is recovering from a brutal injury.