Pro Football Rumors
Roughly two months remain until training camp, and minicamp is still weeks away. But the Browns’ quarterback competition will begin to take shape at OTAs, which started today.
A player the Eagles did not deem a priority, as Tanner McKee is set to move into their QB2 role, is expected to take the first reps with the starters at OTAs. Kenny Pickett indeed will enter Cleveland’s on-field voluntary work receiving the first crack in the starting role, cleveland.com’s Mary Kay Cabot notes.
Pickett starter buzz, despite his quick Pittsburgh exit and uninspiring Philadelphia stay, has picked up recently. OTAs do not provide any padded reps, but they are certainly part of the conversation. The Browns have one of the more complicated quarterback situations in many years, especially considering the Deshaun Watson component, and Pickett is suddenly a key presence after effectively hovering off the radar at Eagles OTAs last year.
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Affirming Pickett will see the first work at OTAs, Cabot offered an update that Dillon Gabriel is likely set to be the second QB in this mix. Kevin Stefanski recently said Browns QB reps will not be doled out equally this offseason, and the May and June work will be important here. Training camp does not offer a setup where a four-man QB competition can realistically be conducted, due to time constraints, so it is certainly possible one member of this mix will be eliminated from a realistic starter path by that point. Through this lens, Gabriel’s OTA status becomes more noteworthy.
The Browns prioritized Gabriel in the draft, ranking him ahead of Jalen Milroe and new teammate Shedeur Sanders. GM Andrew Berry deemed the six-year college QB a better fit compared to Sanders; of course, that was before the team then circled back to the freefalling Colorado passer in Round 5. While ownership making its stance known re: Sanders is certainly possible, he is part of the competition along with Pickett, Gabriel and Joe Flacco. Sanders’ status also will overshadow Gabriel, who is in the historically strange position of seeing a QB drafted later by his own team dwarf his popularity.
Viewed as a Day 3 pick, Gabriel — who started at Oregon, Oklahoma and Central Florida — went off the board 50 spots before Sanders. Going at No. 94, the 5-foot-11 prospect appeared a handpicked option — whereas Sanders profiled as a value play. Sanders’ presence complicates Gabriel’s Cleveland future, but for now, the two-year Buffaloes starter resides in the background in Cleveland. He and Flacco, in some order, are set to enter OTAs in the Nos. 3 and 4 spots, Cabot offers. The Browns guaranteed Flacco $3MM, while cutting Pickett (and seeing no team claim him) would bring a $2.6MM cost.
All four will receive plenty of reps during OTAs, as concurrent QB drills will commence, but the team will need to make a plan for training camp. Team work once in training camp will begin to shape...
