With the Browns planning to [name a starting quarterback this week](https://www.nbcsports.com/nfl/profootballtalk/rumor-mill/news/browns-will-name-their-starting-quarterback-this-week) and with common sense pointing in the direction of veteran Joe Flacco, that’s only one of the questions for Cleveland to answer.
They still need to build out a Week 1 depth chart, and to decide whether to keep three or four quarterbacks on the 53-man roster.
As to two of the options, Shedeur Sanders and Kenny Pickett, coach Kevin Stefanski was asked on Sunday whether he expects them to increase their level of practice participation this week.
“I hope so,” Stefanski told reporters. “We really have to take those day by day, so I don’t know where that ends up towards the end of the week, but I’m hopeful.”
Sanders is day-to-day with an oblique injury. Pickett has a lingering hamstring issue.
As to rookie Dillon Gabriel, who started on Saturday at the Eagles, Stefanski was asked about Gabriel’s injured hamstring in the aftermath of his preseason debut.
“I don’t think he’s 100 percent, but I don’t know that anybody’s 100 percent, even at this point,” Stefanski said. “But I think he came out OK.”
At one point, the idea that the Browns would devote four of 53 roster spots to the quarterback position seemed like a bluff. Given the various injuries, it could become a necessity.
In nine days, all teams must reduce from 90 to 53. The Browns will have to determine the quantity of quarterbacks they’ll keep beyond cut-down day — and then they’ll have to decide whether that will change before Week 1.
Other teams could still call, about Pickett or even Flacco. Or maybe someone who was thinking about using a higher pick on Sanders in April has seen enough to dangle a 2026 selection in order to get him.
Regardless, naming an opening-day starter is just one of the various quarterback decisions the Browns must make. In many respects, it may be the easiest.