New York Giants vs. Cleveland Browns: Which quarterback room would you rather have?

We’re just days into the official NFL preseason, but most teams already have a firm grasp on their most important decision: Who’s playing QB for us? When you’ve got, say, Josh Allen or Patrick Mahomes or Lamar Jackson in your camp, the question is answered before it’s asked. Other teams have less stable situations; Indianapolis is a two-man race, while New Orleans appears to be testing whether you even need to have a quarterback at all.

But among the NFL’s 32 teams, two quarterback rooms stand out for their sheer chaos, volume of “I know that guy!”s, and absolute unpredictable outcomes — two quarterback rooms that look a whole lot like a fantasy autodraft gone horribly wrong, two quarterback rooms that each deserve their own “Hard Knocks” seasons.

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We speak, of course, of the New York Giants and Cleveland Browns. And we ask you: Which room would you rather have?

Let’s look at the tape:

The Super Bowl-winning veterans

Russell Wilson (NYG) vs. Joe Flacco (CLE)

The next game Wilson plays in the NFL will be his 200th. He’s gone from Seattle legend to, now, his fourth team in five years, following stints in Denver and Pittsburgh. After his Rocky Mountain flameout, he played well enough as a rental in Pittsburgh to earn some Comeback Player of the Year votes. This year, he’ll have Malik Nabers to target, and Giants head coach Brian Daboll is pushing the propaganda-friendly line that quarterback and receiver are best pals already.

Flacco, meanwhile, is pushing a line of his own: that even at age 40, he’s still capable of running a team. He’s now more well-traveled than a Grateful Dead roadie, going from Baltimore to Denver to the Jets to Cleveland to Indianapolis and back to Cleveland. He won Comeback Player of the year in his previous Browns stint, winning four of his five starts and leading Cleveland to a surprise (and brief) playoff berth. In his return, he’s a veteran presence, but by no means a long-term one, even if he’s currently QB1 on the Browns’ depth chart.

Verdict: Wilson’s highs are likely higher than Flacco’s, but his lows are lower, too. And both of their Super Bowls were a long, long time ago.

The sling-it-deep-and-see-what-happens bombers

Jameis Winston (NYG) vs. Kenny Pickett (CLE)

There are certain players who command your attention every time the ball is in their hands, players like Mahomes, Michael Vick … and Jameis Winston. You never quite know what Winston is going to do with his prodigious quarterback gifts, you just know it’s going to be memorable. You don’t get to 30 touchdowns and 30 interceptions in a season by playing it safe, after all. Winston spent last season in Cleveland basically being Jameis; for instance, against Denver, he set a Browns record by throwing for 497 yards and four touchdowns … but he also threw three interceptions and Cleveland lost. He signed a two-year deal with the Giants in the offseason; so far, he’s drawn the most notice for doing the “Thriller” dance during practice:

The Cleveland QB1 role isn’t quite Pickett’s to lose, but he has a wide-open highway in front of him. Coming off a 3-14 season, the Browns can’t exactly afford to waste another year waiting for the right QB prospect to develop (or drop in their laps via the draft). That gives Pickett, now in his fourth season and the proud owner of a Super Bowl ring via the Eagles, the opportunity to leapfrog Flacco and stiff-arm his younger challengers. Pickett has taken the majority of first-team snaps this offseason, but head coach Kevin Stefanski is also giving Flacco all the room he needs to prove himself.

Verdict: Pickett has the edge here, but for sheer chaos, you can’t match Winston. He might lead you to victory, he might burn your house down, he might do both at once … but it’ll never be routine.

The “Hey, you never know” guys

Tommy DeVito (NYG) vs. Dillon Gabriel (CLE)

Jersey-born can’t-say-his-name-without-using-your-hands Tommy DeVito is one big win away from having a TV movie made about his life; he joined his hometown Giants as an undrafted free agent before the 2023 season, and he’s since started eight games. After a Jeremy Lin-esque three-win streak in 2023, he’s since settled back to earth, and could be the casualty if the Giants decide to keep Winston.

Despite being drafted in the third round, well before his more heralded teammate (see below), Gabriel has struggled throughout training camp with both accuracy and injury. The reigning Big Ten MVP and All-American with Oregon is finding the sledding a whole lot tougher in the NFL. Gabriel has the tools to succeed, but does he have the time?

Verdict: DeVito’s longevity is serving him well; he’s the embodiment of the old cliche that the best ability is availability.

Shedeur Sanders and the guy drafted 119 spots before Shedeur Sanders

Jaxson Dart (NYG) vs. Shedeur Sanders (CLE)

The Giants have had some success in the past with quarterbacks out of Ole Miss, so their decision to take Dart as the second quarterback off the board wasn’t entirely a surprise. Dart slung his way through the SEC, and he’ll get a significant chance to demonstrate his skills this weekend in the first preseason game against Buffalo. He’s had an up-and-down preseason, but his first live-fire performance should go a long way to demonstrating how ready he is to take over Wilson’s job … and how soon that might happen.

You know the deal with Sanders — the presumptive (at least in his own camp’s mind) first-rounder fell all the way to the fifth in this year’s draft. The NFL media has covered his performance in Browns camp with a scrutiny usually reserved for papal conclaves, but even so, he remains mired at fourth in the Browns’ unofficial depth chart. Whether this is a case of insufficient reps or insufficient coaches’ confidence doesn’t really matter; Sanders is buried, and he’s going to need a lot more than daily sports-talk yellers advocating for him to climb out of it. And that’s not the only bad roster news for Sanders …

Verdict: Dart has a clear, if lengthy, path to the starting gig in New York. Sanders’ path is nowhere near as clear, though it’s going to be well-lit with national spotlight wherever it goes.

Bonus: The fifth man in the three-man QB room

Tyler Huntley (CLE)

Cleveland apparently has decided to build the entire team out of quarterbacks, signing Tyler Huntley as a free agent this week. (Also, Gabriel and Pickett are nursing minor injuries, but that’s a much less fun explanation.) After making the Pro Bowl in relief of Jackson in Baltimore in 2022, Huntley has bounced between practice squads. He adds a new wrinkle to the Cleveland chaos, doesn’t he?

Overall verdict: In this choice of dog's breakfast vs. buffet leftovers, we go with the Giants, if only because they have the more stable situation at No. 1 and the more likely QB-in-waiting in Dart. But since both of these franchises play in some of the game's toughest divisions — and because both franchises are more cursed than an Egyptian tomb — that could flip by halftime of Week 1. Buckle up.