It's barely June and some are arguing the Cleveland Browns need to make a decision on their quarterback rotation. Either four quarterbacks is too many or the organization needs to have narrowed down the competition element to two by the end of minicamp. In what the team is calling an open competition, if this was their approach, the rookies are immediately being written off as legitimate competitors. The Browns have time and should take advantage of it.
Given the restrictions of the collective bargaining agreement and the finite amount of practice time, this is a logical way to look at the situation. There's an inherent disadvantage to have a team working through a quarterback competition while the rest of the division, potentially the conference is already trying to maximize their starter. This causes many teams to shy away from the idea.
The Browns, meanwhile, aren't married to any of the four quarterbacks on their roster. It's not likely Joe Flacco is going to earn a lucrative contract extension. Kenny Pickett is on the last year of his rookie deal. And while both rookies Dillon Gabriel and Shedeur Sanders are under team control for the next several years, the team didn't make a significant enough investment in either one to compel them to do anything.
The Browns are not prepared to make a decision at this point as noted by offensive coordinator Tommy Rees.
"Yeah, you can see them all winning the job, I think, right? 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."
Wednesday was the fifth day of OTAs. The Browns will have another on-field session Friday and minicamp begins next week on Tuesday. In all, the Browns will have basically one dozen on-field sessions to evaluate before they go on break for the summer. Even if the Browns were repping fewer quarterbacks, that wouldn't be enough information. The Browns are trying to practice faster, more efficiently to get these players more reps, but it's nowhere near enough. That is especially true given the fact it's not about where these guys start, but the progress they are able to make. Progress that will be made over a couple months.