Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’ll know that the Cleveland Browns quarterback room is bound to be one of the juiciest storylines (for better or worse) this NFL offseason, as they aim to find a starter on a depth chart that currently consists of Joe Flacco, Shedeur Sanders, Kenny Pickett, and Dillon Gabriel.
Sitting down with ESPN Cleveland, Browns head coach Kevin Stefanski was completely uncensored and laid out exactly how the Browns will evaluate this quarterback battle.
Kevin Stefanski Details Browns QB Battle Between Joe Flacco, Shedeur Sanders, and Others
In the clip, Stefanski can be seen talking for about 40 seconds, explaining how the quarterback battle will go.
“I told the players, don’t pay attention to where you are in line, cause where you are on Tuesday may be different Wednesday. So, no, we don’t pay close attention to that. Certainly, you have to decide what order the guys are gonna go out, and sometimes it may be Player X, Player Y, whatever it is,” Stefanski started.
That makes sense. This is a quarterback competition, so based on the production from one day, they may want to see more or less of another player.
“The big thing for us is making sure we give the guys enough reps that they need. So, making sure that they have enough where both — it’s two-fold — both they’re learning the system, they’re developing, and we’re evaluating them. We’re finding out more about them,” Stefanski continued.
How will the Browns split the reps for the QBs in camp?
"It's not going to be like everybody gets 25% of the reps, that's not how it's gonna be," – @Browns HC Kevin Stefanski. pic.twitter.com/7hRnHdk4vv
— ESPN Cleveland (@ESPNCleveland)
Again, it makes sense. Someone like Flacco, who’s been in the league since the George W. Bush administration, doesn’t need as many reps as Gabriel or Sanders. Flacco is a known commodity. He pretty much came off the couch in 2023 to be the Browns’ starter, went 4-1, and led them to a playoff berth.
“So, that’s where I said before, it’s not gonna be a ‘everybody gets 25% of these reps,’ it’s not how it’s gonna be. We wanna give everybody enough reps where we can learn more about them and prepare them to get ready to play,” Stefanski finished.
As mentioned, there’s no need to necessarily give Flacco 25% of the reps, and if he doesn’t for whatever reason, that doesn’t necessarily indicate his position on the depth chart.
At FanDuel Sportsbook, Flacco is the favorite to be the Week 1 starter at +116. He’s ahead of Pickett (+200), Sanders (+430), and Gabriel (+870).
That said, who knows? After all, The Miz believes that if the Browns start Sanders, Cleveland will win the Super Bowl. Maybe he’s onto something (but probably not).