The Browns have four primary candidates for the starting quarterback job. According to the man in charge of all of the offense, any of them — Joe Flacco, Kenny Pickett, Dillon Gabriel, Shedeur Sanders — can win it.
“You can see them all winning the job, I think, right?” Tommy Rees told reporters on Wednesday. “And so in terms of the competition, we’re so early in the process. We’re so early in evaluating that. Yeah, I think, you know, we have a good group of guys that continue to push one another, and by the time September rolls around, we’ll be ready to go.”
It’s hard to imagine all four still being in the running when training camp opens. The last guy on the depth chart will have a hard time getting enough quality reps. And the more quality reps that go to someone other than the eventual starter will make it harder for the eventual starter to be ready.
Ideally, they’ll trim the competition to three before training camp opens, with one of the quartet being traded. We still think Pickett will be the odd man out, but that’s just a hunch.
Joe Flacco has the experience and the affection of the fan base. Gabriel and Sanders each could become the long-term answer. It would be foolish to prematurely give up on either one.
For now, the Browns have a mandatory minicamp next week. That’s the last chance they’ll have to evaluate the four quarterbacks before training camp.
“It’s going to be fluid,” Rees said regarding next week’s practice plan for the four quarterbacks. “We’re going to continue to work with all the guys we have. We’re going to develop all four of them and, you know, we’re going to push the reps. We’re going to find ways to be creative to make sure that they all have opportunities to develop and put their best foot forward. And, you know, when the time comes, we’ll continue to push guys forward as they are.”
The wrinkle in all of this is Deshaun Watson. The Browns have moved on, but he’s still on the team. If/when he’s cleared to practice and play, the Browns will have a decision to make. A decision they may not want to make, especially since the millions in insurance they can recover hinge on him being physically unable to play.
It’s going to make for an interesting August in Cleveland. They first need to figure out the starter, and then they need to prepare him and the rest of the team for a Week 1 visit from the Bengals.