The Cleveland Browns quarterback situation is one of the top NFL storylines with training camps under way. Joe Flacco, Dillion Gabriel, Kenny Pickett, and Shedeur Sanders are all vying for their place on the depth chart to replace the injured DeShaun Watson, who is expected to miss the entire season.
Saturday was the final day of practice without pads as head coach Kevin Stefanski is giving the players off on Sunday. Business will pick up next week with their first preseason game on Friday and the speculation about who will be the team’s starting quarterback Week 1 against the Cincinnati Bengals will continue.
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“I mean, yeah, you can see them all winning the job, I think, right?” Browns offensive coordinator Tommy Rees said last week.
Stefanski said this week that “we’d like to make a decision sooner than later” when it comes to their QB1. Now the question will be who is going to stand out among the four?
Sanders making most of training camp reps
Much of the attention through the first few days of camp has been on Sanders, their 2025 fifth-round pick. He was a major story on draft night and will have attention on every play he makes on the field. He has not receiver many first-team reps, but that has not hindered his work ethic.
“It doesn’t really faze me. You gotta understand, we came all the way from an HBCU to a Power 5 [conference team], and now we here, so,” Sanders said, via ESPN’s Daniel Oyefusi. “At this point you look around, there’s nothing that’s a challenge, I would say.”
Sanders did make his mark on Saturday with three touchdowns during the workout, including this one to fellow rookie Luke Floriea.
ESPN Cleveland has been tracking the passing stats of all four quarterbacks this week and the other rookie in the rotation, Dillon Gabriel, has thrown the most with 38, compared to 34 by Flacco and Pickett, and 31 from Sanders.
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Gabriel, meanwhile, had led the way in team drill sets, according to tracking by ESPN’s Daniel Oyefusi.
Flacco was the Browns’ savior in 2023 when he guided them to the playoffs and won Comeback Player of the Year. Now 40, he’s back in Cleveland on a one-year, $4 million deal. Stefanski limited the veteran quarterback’s work in the spring purposely due to Flacco’s familiarity with the offense.
“Oftentimes, the thought in the NFL is like, ‘OK, well, your starter gets 70% of the reps, your backup gets 25% of the reps and your third guy gets 5% of the reps, and the job of the backups is to be ready to play with no reps,” Browns GM Andrew Berry told Yahoo Sports’ Jori Epstein in June. “It doesn’t have to be that way — especially in the spring, when we have some flexibility because we’re not necessarily preparing for games.”
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Pickett made 42 pass attempts all of last season in a backup role to Jalen Hurts and the Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles. His first two NFL seasons with the Pittsburgh Steelers were mediocre with the 2022 No. 20 overall draft pick throwing for 13 touchdowns and 13 interceptions.
Berry said he likes Pickett’s mobility and decision making and sees a pathway for improvement — maybe one that has Pickett follow in the footsteps of the likes of Sam Darnold, Baker Mayfield and Geno Smith as a reclamation project in a new environment.
But the path to redemption for Pickett won’t be easy as he attempts to fend off two rookies and a Super Bowl-winning veteran for the Browns’ starting job.
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Pickett did not have his fifth-year option picked up by the Browns, meaning he’s in the final year of his rookie deal and has a lot to prove if he doesn’t want to turn into an NFL journeyman signal-caller.
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