BEREA, Ohio — As Kenny Pickett, Joe Flacco, Dillon Gabriel and Shedeur Sanders battle it out for the Browns’ starting quarterback job, Pro Bowl cornerback Denzel Ward has promised to give them the best-possible competition.
“I’m looking forward to picking them all off in practice,” Ward said on Wednesday following the team’s second day of mandatory minicamp. “And they’re all looking good competing. So I’m looking forward to see how it continues to play out. The best guy’s going to be out there.”
Ward has had a front-row seat to what is arguably the most-watched position battle in the NFL heading into the 2025 season.
While this is his first chance going against the two rookies in Gabriel and Sanders (and he’s only taken team reps against Gabriel with the first team defense) he has familiarity with Flacco and Pickett already.
Of course, Ward and Flacco were teammates in the back half of 2023, when Flacco came in midway through the season after Deshaun Watson injured his shoulder and helped lead the Browns on a run to the postseason.
But as a rookie in 2018, Ward picked off a Flacco throw in a Week 5, 12-9 Browns win over Baltimore, one of the first interceptions of his career.
As for Pickett, the former Steelers QB who spent last year with the Eagles, he and Ward have faced off in three career games, with Pickett having the 2-1 edge.
Ward never picked him off in those games against the Steelers, but did break up four of his passes.
If Ward’s first pick against Pickett comes in a training camp practice, it will not only be making good on his QB competition promise, but will also help him improve in the one key area he’s been challenged this season: turning PBUs into interceptions.
“I think about it a lot,” Ward said. “(Defensive coordinator) Jim (Schwartz), he challenges me a lot, and I appreciate that. I’m trying to be great, greater than great, and he’s pushing me every day to, like you said, PBUs are good, but those interceptions help change the game tremendously and help the team win.
“So I got my hands on a lot of balls last year, but being able to take that ball away will help us even more.”
In 2024 as the Browns limped to a 3-14 finish, Ward had arguably the best individual year of his career, making it to his fourth career Pro Bowl.
He finished with a career-best 17 pass breakups and had two interceptions.
But in his mind, he still left a lot on the table.
“A lot of them were contested, but I feel I’m good enough where I could come and take those balls away,” Ward said. “But just find a way to get two hands on the ball and finish the play. I got a lot of hands on the ball, but just I got to finish. That’s the biggest thing and that’s going to be my focus this year and I’m going to take it away.”
The Browns defense as a whole managed only four interceptions and 12 total takeaways in the 2024 season.
Ward has never had more than three interceptions in any individual season, and he’s hit that mark three times — most recently in 2022.
“Denzel got his hands on a lot of passes last year, and we need to convert more of those to interceptions,” Schwartz said last week. “And that’s the difference between Pro Bowl and All-Pro. The game changing plays. The PBU is big for us, but we need to get more of the INTs and he’s made a big push to convert those to INTs and we need that to the show on the field.”
So how else is he working to turn those PBUs into takeaways?
It’s physical and mental work, even for the eight-year vet.
“It’s just getting reps on task,” Ward said. “So coming out here and really just shifting my mindset. I know a lot of times I just try to go for the disruption, like my man’s not going to catch the ball. But just focusing, getting two hands on the ball and going and taking it away. And then practicing on the JUGS (machine) catches and just keeping it in my mind.”
And if his own QBs are the victim of this work and newfound focus, then so be it.
**Football Insider newsletter free trial:** Take a minute and [sign up for a free trial](https://link.cleveland.com/join/6fe/newsletter-football-insider-sign-up-emailform?) of our Football Insider newsletter, featuring exclusive content from cleveland.com's Browns reporters.