"It’s a great media headline" - Kenny Pickett pushes back on Browns QB rivalry with Shedeur Sanders and Dillon Gabriel

The Cleveland Browns are one of the few teams in the NFL entering their offseason program with a quarterback battle on their hands. With Deshaun Watson set to be sidelined for the foreseeable future, Cleveland overhauled its quarterback group to set up a quality competition this offseason.

After bringing in Kenny Pickett and Joe Flacco earlier in the offseason, the Browns added Dillon Gabriel and Shedeur Sanders in the 2025 NFL draft. All four will look to separate from the pack to ultimately win the starting job, though Cleveland entered OTAs with Pickett and Gabriel splitting first-team reps.

Despite the competition within the group, Pickett said that the quarterback room is building rapport and pushing each other in practice.

"When you're day-to-day, you're in meetings with these guys, you're out at practice, you spend so much time together," Pickett told the media on Wednesday. "Of course, we're all competing, but you become friends with everybody. There's an open dialogue in the quarterback room to help each other grow.

"I think it's a great media headline, but when you get in the building in a quarterback room, at least all the ones that I've been in, you really become friends with these guys and we're just pushing each other."

The Browns added Pickett in a trade with the Philadelphia Eagles, giving up a fifth-round pick along with backup quarterback Dorian Thompson-Robinson.

Joe Flacco sees significant time on Day 2 of Browns OTAs

On Day 2 of Cleveland's OTAs, Joe Flacco saw more time than expected, taking over as the leading quarterback during the team's 11-on-11 drills. Kenny Pickett stepped in after Flacco to round out the team's 11-on-11 drills, but neither Dillon Gabriel nor Shedeur Sanders saw action during the first full team period.

During the team's second 11-on-11 period of the day, Pickett led the quarterback group, followed by Gabriel. Ultimately, Sanders missed out on participating in today's team drills, as the load was divided among Pickett, Gabriel and Flacco.

Flacco holds the biggest advantage in this quarterback battle with experience in Kevin Stefanski's system dating back to his five starts for the team in 2023.

The coach told reporters not to read too much into the order early in the offseason process, but the division of reps is worth noting through two days of offseason practices.