Browns' dud of a QB competition among 9 thoughts through 9 days of training camp

New York Times

2 days ago

Nine thoughts and observations on the Cleveland Browns after nine training camp practices and the standard beginning of camp festivities and storylines. Some days, frankly, have been more festive than others …
1. The quarterback competition is the obvious headliner. It's been a bit of a dud, but in true Browns fashion, it's also included some surprises. Kenny Pickett closed the first week of practices with two touchdown passes, but in between, he strained a hamstring. Shedeur Sanders was dressed for practice Saturday but reported arm soreness and took no competitive reps.
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Pickett said he's working '24-7' to get back to full speed but acknowledged he's losing ground. Joe Flacco's two best throwing days have been the two most recent days, Friday and Saturday. Neither of the rookies ever had much of a realistic chance to win the starting job this August, and over the last week, Flacco has gone from presumed favorite to strong favorite.
What always mattered most was finding the No. 1 — even if that status was going to be in flux at some point — and letting the folks in charge evaluate and decide on the rest of the depth chart and the room. There's a lot of camp left, and there's obviously a lot still to be settled with Pickett, Dillon Gabriel and Sanders.
2. There's much more going on than just the quarterback battle. But we watch the quarterbacks first, and even in this idealistic version of an angry, hungry Browns team winning with a monster defense and a ball-control offense, solid and efficient quarterback play will be necessary to the team's chances of putting some wins together.
It's probably no surprise that Flacco has looked better when he's not taking four reps at a time or only jumping in competitive drills every other day. The early stages of a four-man competition were never going to be the best stage for Flacco, and the overall uncertainty of everything was underscored by team owner Jimmy Haslam using his annual early-camp news conference to publicly say that the team needs to see the rookie quarterbacks play before it makes any decisions about the future and specifically about April 2026, when the Browns have two first-round picks.
What are realistic expectations for this 2025 Browns team? Well, we're already talking about next year in the first week of August.
3. From a personnel standpoint, camp is not off to the greatest of starts. Cornerback Martin Emerson Jr. suffered a season-ending ruptured Achilles tendon last week, and veteran linebacker Jordan Hicks started camp away from the team before officially deciding on retirement.
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Emerson appeared to be on his way to stardom in his first two seasons before having a tough 2024. Now, he'll hit free agency next year off a major injury. Hicks was a team-captain, coach-on-the-field type who was going to play a role. Now, the Browns are without their two best linebackers from last year as Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah will miss the season with a neck injury.
We're still early enough in camp that we risk ankle injuries jumping to real conclusions, but it's fair to say the start of things has backed up previous thoughts that the Browns are neither deep nor scary in their running back and wide receiver rooms. Second-round rookie Quinshon Judkins remains unsigned and away from the team following his July 12 arrest on charges of domestic violence and battery.
4. It's not all bleak. I promise. The team's first two draft picks, defensive tackle Mason Graham and linebacker Carson Schwesinger, are immediate starters who appear to be keepers. As you'd probably hope and expect, the two best players in camp have been defensive end Myles Garrett and cornerback Denzel Ward.
When Browns coach Kevin Stefanski announced that Garrett would be given Saturday off, I immediately wondered if it was as much a break for left tackle Dawand Jones as it was for Garrett. Jones is still learning the position on the fly, and Garrett is often flying past him.
The camper of the day Saturday was undrafted rookie wide receiver Gage Larvadain, who's made a notable play on most days but made multiple impressive catches Saturday. If Larvadain keeps it up, he'll make the team. If he keeps moving up, he'll draw matchups with Ward — and no wide receiver has had much, if any, success versus Ward to this point in camp.
I caught a touchdown from Mr.Joe Flacco…😅😅 Life is complete https://t.co/wExItahGIp
— Gage Larvadain🤴🏽 (@g1baller) August 2, 2025
5. As noted above, the first two rookies in this class are trending upward and Judkins, the third, is missing valuable time and is in limbo.
Tight end Harold Fannin Jr. has already played his way into significant snaps with the No. 1 offense, and though Fannin is barely 21 and still new to the position, he's going to play a role as a rookie. Fourth-round rookie running back Dylan Sampson has shown some ability to make tacklers miss while essentially playing the 1-B role alongside Jerome Ford in Judkins' absence.
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With the two rookie quarterbacks, there's a clear order: Gabriel, the third-round pick, goes ahead of Sanders and gets more total reps, too. But to say Gabriel has had an up-and-down camp would be to at least slightly ignore that he's been wildly down (and wildly inaccurate) in recent days. And though camp stats and camp completions don't tell anything close to the whole story, Gabriel has done nothing to make anyone observing believe he's ready to be trusted as a No. 2 quarterback.
Sanders has shown impressive accuracy, and though he hasn't been razor-sharp every day, he's had the best throw of the day on multiple practice days. The Browns have no plans to rush Sanders into anything and want him to continue developing in their offense. If Sanders can handle pressure and off-schedule plays over the next two weeks in preseason and joint practice settings, he could position himself to play late in the season.
6. Nothing with Sanders, Gabriel or any other rookie has to be a race. Really. Not at this stage, anyway. The biggest summer evaluation days for all 90 players lie directly ahead, and the internal honesty about this team's ceiling and long-term uncertainty make it so the folks in charge have to see as many young players in as many pressure-packed situations as possible. There's a regular season to get prepared for, too — and if the Browns can't beat the Cincinnati Bengals in the opener, it's fair to wonder when they'll crack the win column.
But we're still early enough in the process that Stefanski and his coaches can mix in young players in preseason settings and use the joint practices to push the presumed starters. It's more than fair to say the first nine days of practice have been ugly for the offense while also acknowledging that expectations for those days should not have been super high. The best camp days are still coming, and players who might really position themselves to impress still have plenty of chances to do so.
7. Friday, Flacco had Jerry Jeudy open deep down the sideline. Cornerback Greg Newsome II closed on the ball beautifully, though, and knocked it away.
Newsome landed awkwardly on his shoulder and sat out the rest of practice. He didn't practice Saturday, and Stefanski called Newsome 'day to day.' Newsome is having a strong camp, and a swift return to top form becomes more important in the wake of Emerson's injury. Like Emerson, Newsome is only under contract for this season. The Browns have Cameron Mitchell and Myles Harden competing for snaps at slot cornerback now, and Newsome probably has to play outside almost all of the time with Emerson out.
It's not yet a crisis at cornerback, and Newsome being on the sideline Saturday indicates he likely doesn't have a major injury. Still, the overall lack of proven depth across the roster remains a concern.
Harden(ed) toughness@Myles1Harden deflection! pic.twitter.com/2QbEk6zFIj
— Cleveland Browns (@Browns) August 2, 2025
8. I believe the Monday, July 27, practice was a guideline for how Stefanski will handle the preseason opener. On that day, the usual starters went through early drills before the top players at most positions essentially got the rest of the day off. I think the Browns will sit their top, say, 18 to 25 players and probably let the rookie quarterbacks play in the actual preseason game.
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The caveat here is that Stefanski has to be open to anything — and might have to be flexible depending on the health and availability of Pickett and Sanders. The Browns will participate in one joint practice against the Carolina Panthers and two against the Philadelphia Eagles the following week. I think the practices in Philadelphia will be mostly about the starters and, as has been the case the last two years, the second preseason game will be mostly for the youngsters.
9. If the offensive line is healthy and can play to its experience level (and pay grade), the Browns will have a chance to have a functional offense. But with four offensive line starters only signed through 2025 and not a lot of proven depth in any spot, there has to be uncertainty in the long term and over the next couple of weeks. No quarterback can function in a preseason setting if his offensive tackles are turnstiles.
The players to watch most closely are 2024 third-round pick Zak Zinter and veteran tackle Cornelius Lucas, a March addition who's the top backup tackle. The Browns also have some tackle experience in Jackson Barton and Teven Jenkins, who's playing guard with the No. 2 offense but has tackle experience. Friday, the Browns claimed tackle Sebastian Gutierrez off waivers from the San Francisco 49ers; Gutierrez spent some time last season on the Browns' practice squad.
About 20 minutes into Saturday's practice, Gutierrez walked out to the practice field. A member of the team's personnel department escorted Gutierrez towards the south end of the practice fields so he could join the offensive linemen. Gutierrez had flown overnight, taken a physical, put on his new uniform and immediately joined a practice that had already started. It was a little awkward, obviously, but the folks in charge think there's a chance that Gutierrez can provide some value over the coming weeks if necessary.
After Sunday's off day, the Browns begin their third week of camp. The injuries, batted passes and players coming directly from both the sideline and the airport into action over the first two weeks serve as a reminder that we don't have more than a guess at what's coming next.
(Top photo of Joe Flacco and Kenny Pickett: Jeff Lange / USA Today Network via Imagn Images)