Browns Announce Pecking Order Decision On Shedeur Sanders and QB Competition

The Cleveland Browns could be primed to have the most interesting quarterback competition of the 2025 offseason. Or, they might just have a lot of quarterbacks.

The Cleveland Browns employ a lot of quarterbacks.

And not enough snaps.

But Browns head coach Kevin Stefanski insists he has a plan.

Veterans Joe Flacco and Kenny Pickett are here. If the idea is to win games, they figure to compete to be at the top of the pecking order.

Rookies Dillion Gabriel and Shedeur Sanders are also here. Logic suggests that while they might harbor lofty desires, at this point they are just trying to secure a job on the roster.

So how does the coach take a look at all of them (and of course this doesn't count rehabbing QB Deshaun Watson)?

Stefanski is trying to make it clear to the media (and therefore, to Browns fans) to not read too much into the depth chart ... or even how snaps are distributed on a given day in workouts.

“The big thing for us is making sure we give the guys enough reps that they need,” Stefanski announced this week. “Making sure that they have enough — It’s twofold. They’re learning the system, they’re developing and we’re evaluating them. We’re finding out about them.''

But ... how do four guys "get enough reps''? There isn't enough time in the practice day. The math doesn't work.

Right?

"It’s not going to be everybody gets 25 percent of the reps,'' he said. "That’s not how it’s gonna be. We want to give everybody enough reps where we can learn more about them and prepare them to get ready to play.”

We get what he's saying. But Stefanski and the Browns are obviously entering this quarterback competition with some preconceived notions. Cleveland traded for Pickett and he's a young former first-round pick. That's surely where the totem pole starts.

And eventually? Once the team needs to finalize its 53-man roster, two guys are going to be active on Sundays, one more guy will dress as the emergency third quarterback, and it's likely that another ends up on the Browns practice squad.

While it's true that the sooner Gabriel or Sanders get onto the field, the more Cleveland will know what they can do, an overemphasis on developing a third- and a fifth-round pick isn't the best way to win at game in Week 1.

So the truth is, Stefanski doesn't have enough time in the day to accomplish the goal of "seeing everybody.''