The Cleveland Browns have tried 42 starting quarterbacks in the last 27 years but never reached the Super Bowl. However, one NFL analyst questioned the notion of a “perfect” quarterback since some winners were never believed to be championship-caliber.

“Sam Darnold just won one, even if he tried to throw the ball to the Patriots repeatedly in the first half,” Dan Labbe wrote for Cleveland.com on July 28. “Jalen Hurts, whose spot in the quarterback pecking order will be debated annually, has appeared in two Super Bowls and won one.”

In fact, he recently argued that the Browns are “actually smart” about their ongoing QB crisis: the competition between Shedeur Sanders and Deshaun Watson, rather than being desperate.

Labbe's comments subtly mocked Jalen Hurts and Sam Darnold, as the analyst considers neither to be a bona fide star. He felt that one Super Bowl title did not elevate Hurts or Darnold to the level of legends like Tom Brady and Peyton Manning.

“And, either way, are the Browns worse off? Recent NFL history has taught us you don’t need a perfect quarterback to compete for or even win a Super Bowl,” Labbe wrote on Cleveland.com. 

The two were big names among the best QBs. Hurts has reached two Super Bowls in six years, winning one. Interestingly, Hurts has never surpassed the 4000+ passing yards mark.

Watson, in his final season with the Houston Texans in 2020, led the league with 4,823 passing yards.

In the 2022 season, his first Super Bowl appearance, Hurts, 27, amassed 3,701 passing yards. In 2024, he recorded his career-low of 2,903 yards but led a 40-22 victory against sworn enemies, the Kansas City Chiefs. 

As for Sam Darnold, the Seattle Seahawks’ passer, he has lived a whirlwind journey before lifting the Lombardi Trophy in 2025. His career was deeplyunstable.

He started with the New York Jets in 2018 and hopped into three other franchises. Darnold's 2023 was brutal: 297 yards across ten games.

No one predicted a champion. Labbe states that he faltered even in his Super Bowl game against the New England Patriots.

Yet, he is a winner. So, these two could do it; why can’t the Browns? The franchise has never won big, but they intend to now from the gravity of their QB competition. 

AP analyst states unstable QB roster responsible for winless decades for the Browns

Dave Campbell of AP weighed in on the absence of a reliable starting quarterback in the Cleveland Browns. Their unstable QB roster is the reason the Browns couldn’t win the Super Bowl, he concluded.

“Since Cleveland got its NFL team back in 1999, the Browns have made the playoffs just three times — and won only one postseason game,” Campbell wrote on July 29. “There’s no arguing the connection to the perpetually shuffling depth chart at quarterback, with 42 different starters over those first 27 years.”

The most glaring example is none other than Deshaun Watson. Traded to the Browns and signed a five-year, $230 million deal but proved to be a mistake.

He's played in just 19 games over the four years before a lower-leg injury sidelined him for the entirety of last season.

The hopes from the competition between Shedeur Sanders and Watson are minimal. Let the team secure a reliable starter for at least this season.

Dan Labbe believes the team is being smart about it, and all fans can do is hope he’s right. 

Read more at the Cleveland Browns Community!

Written by

Akanksha Biradar

Edited by

Arundhoti Palit