While the Cleveland Browns are having a competition featuring four quarterbacks, the luxury of not needing Joe Flacco to take a full load of daily reps is paying dividends. The Browns are coming up with ways to increase the number of snaps they have with these quarterbacks in these unpadded practices, including having two offenses operating at once and trying to practice faster, but Flacco's flexibility is providing additional opportunities. Best of all, Flacco is on board, trusting head coach Kevin Stefanski's plan for him and the team.
The conventional wisdom is that it's impossible to get enough reps for four quarterbacks. When the Browns get into training camp, they will need to start whittling the field down and eventually rally around their starter for the season. But in OTAs and this mandatory minicamp, the Browns have found ways to get Kenny Pickett, Dillon Gabriel and Shedeur Sanders a good amount of reps, using this time to install the scheme, coach and develop.
Especially when it comes to the two rookies, the additional opportunities are allowing them to grow and that's starting to show itself as both have their share of highlights in each of these practices open to the media. Both are drawing praise from the coaching staff for their attitude, willingness to work and take coaching. There's extra incentive in the form of a survival instinct as in the back of their minds, the team is only going to carry three into the season. The room isn't contentious but it is competitive.
It starts with Flacco's willingness to be flexible and his trust in head coach Kevin Stefanski.
"I don't know what the plan is exactly. But you know, I trust Kevin and that he has a plan for all this, and, you know, that's really all I can do. You know, listen, I'd love to go out there and take 120 reps a day and get in the groove and do all those things, but like I said, the coaches have a plan, Kevin has a plan, and my job is to just trust that, go out there and do the best I can."