The Cleveland Browns were going to be one of the key teams to watch out for this offseason. Once the draft concluded and there was a general idea of what their roster was going to look like, decisions for their rookies, most notably at the quarterback position, became one of the biggest storylines to monitor.
A loaded QB room, featuring two rookies in Shedeur Sanders and Dillon Gabriel, left many doubts about the direction Cleveland would take. After the first day of minicamp, head coach Kevin Stefanski broke down his plans for the 2025 rookie class for the upcoming season and beyond.
Kevin Stefanski Has Roles in Mind for Rookies, Including Shedeur Sanders
Immediately, the quarterback competition became the biggest news to monitor for the Browns. With five quarterbacks on the roster, including Deshaun Watson, who’s out for the 2025 season, there was always going to be tough competition for the QB1 spot.
Names like Joe Flacco and Kenny Pickett would assume the veteran roles on the roster, as Gabriel and Sanders developed over time. Coming out of the first day of minicamp, Stefanski gave a small insight into his group.
“They have a lot of homework. They have a lot of film to watch, playbooks to look at. We don’t wanna overburden a player where he’s not gonna play fast. But you want to see what they can handle, you wanna push them, not to their limits, but certainly push them.”
He believes a lot of the work is going to come at home. “So there is studying that needs to be done. We’ll install plays on offense and defense that maybe we won’t even practice, but we want them to spend their time out of this building in the playbook, and be ready to roll tomorrow morning.”
For a relatively very young team, the growth of their youngsters is going to be a key metric to judge how good the Browns are going to be. Top to bottom, they have players still on their rookie deals making key contributions.
As a result, a lot of the onus is going to fall on former two-time Coach of the Year Stefanski and the rest of his coaching staff to bring the best out of the younger players on the team.
In the meantime, minicamp and eventually OTAs and training camps might give fans an insight into the direction Cleveland wants to go in, particularly where the quarterback position is concerned.