Dawgs By Nature
Browns training camp is officially underway!
Day 1 of Cleveland Browns training camp kicked off for the 2025 season. As we do every year, we will compile a summary of what happened before, during, and after each practice, based on notes from the local media and the team.
1. Back to Berea: After kicking off training camp in Greenbrier, West Virginia for the past two years, that excursion did not happen for the 2025 year. Instead, the team reported to Berea for their first practice — a closed session one. They’ll practice in front of fans for the first time this Friday.
2. Injury News to Start the Day: Prior to practice, the Browns made a few moves: QB Deshaun Watson and DT Mike Hall Jr. were placed on the Active/Physically Unable to Perform list, WR David Bell was placed on the Active/Non-Football Injury list, and WR Jaelen Gill was waived.
TE David Njoku and LB Jordan Hicks were not at practice, but were excused for personal reasons.
3. RB Situation: The Browns rebuilt the running back room this offseason, and then recently, it was thrown into chaos due to the legal situation with rookie RB Quinshon Judkins, who is not with the team right now. For now, RB Jerome Ford resumes his role as the top running back (although he was not practicing today due to a minor injury, of course).
4. The QB Plan: This offseason, it’s kind of been out there that the Browns have four quarterbacks, and we don’t know for sure who will be the starter, the backup, etc. How will these reps be split up? Well not, it gets serious. Cleveland doesn’t just want to decide on a starter by the end of camp, they want to decide on a starter soon, so that guy can be prepared to start for the regular season.
What we’ve learned from Day 1 is that Kevin Stefanski will be using two fields at times with the four quarterbacks (two on each field) to help maximize the reps and evaluation. He has his plan of the timeline on deciding things written in pencil, and one of those first big evaluation periods will be after Sunday’s off day.
He did note not to read too much into quarterback reps on any one day for these first four days, because it sounds like they’ll be intentionally rotating the reps in varying ways.
5. Drill of the Day: In one of the first Day 1 drills, the Browns had big men practicing fumble recoveries:
6. Dawand Jones Really Did Slim Down: We heard the rumors, but you be the judge too: does it look like Dawand Jones has slimmed down quite a bit from the past two years?
7. Rep Order at QB: Even if it doesn’t matter yet, we’ll still check. According to reports, in individual drills, Kenny Pickett went 1st, Joe Flacco went 2nd, Dillon Gabriel went 3rd, and...
