BEREA, OH — Story time in the Cleveland Browns quarterback meeting room can take a while sometimes. Or, as veteran signal-caller Joe Flacco relayed at minicamp Wednesday, it could last the entire meeting.
Take a recent 9 a.m. gaggle, with a team lift scheduled 20 minutes later. Somebody brought up taking vacations and whether it was possible not to enjoy going on them.
‘That turned into five stories, and next thing you know you know, it’s 9:17, you’re like, ‘All right, guys, see you later,’’ said Flacco, entering his 18th NFL season. “So, yeah, that can happen. But throughout the course of my career, that happens on Fridays in the season. You’re prepared, you’re ready, you’ve kind of covered everything, and sometimes you tell stories for 15 minutes. That’s what being a teammate and getting to know these guys is all about.”
The Browns’ quarterback room – led by Flacco and filled with young journeyman Kenny Pickett and rookies Dillon Gabriel and Shedeur Sanders – is crowded. It deals with heightened outside attention in the aftermath of drafting Sanders following his dramatic fall in the 2025 NFL draft. But the main priority of the group, which also includes the injured Deshaun Watson and head coach Kevin Stefanski in addition to quarterbacks coach Bill Musgrave and offensive coordinator Tommy Rees, is to turn a high-profile quarterback competition into a way to build team chemistry and win football games.
“The discussion that occurs in the quarterback room is outstanding,” Stefanski said. “It’s fun. It’s high-level discussion. It’s new for the two young guys…I think it’s an impressive thing for those young guys to absorb.”
Having the chance to throw a play up from the respective careers of Flacco or Pickett is often a good way to start a discussion about football. For the other topics, oftentimes Sanders will offer something up and Flacco will run with it. Sanders is also prone to give Flacco a verbal jab about their age gap (Sanders is 23, while Flacco is 40).
“It’s real fun having those guys in the room,” Sanders said. “Quarterbacks, we think in similar ways, but not everybody always talks about it.”
During practice, Sanders said, Flacco has helped instruct him on the quickest way to progress through route reads. And Sanders wants the feedback. Throughout the first two days of minicamp, the two have conversed plenty on the field, with Flacco often gesturing with his hands – and maybe even flashing a smile barely visible through his facemask.
“He’s a pro. I’d be dumb not to get insight from somebody who’s had success over all the years he has,” Sanders said.
On Wednesday, Gabriel took first-team reps in the red zone. The lefty pumped three hard throws over the middle for completions later in practice during move-the-ball drills.
Gabriel referred to the quarterbacks on the roster as diverse “in experience.”
“I think what we’ve done really well as a room is just the inability to dwell on the past,” the former Central Florida, Oklahoma and Oregon quarterback said.
He added: “I think there’s a lot of juice in the squeeze. But you’ve got to ask the right questions.”
Most of the technique questions, according to Flacco and Pickett, have revolved around the under-center snaps required in Stefanski’s offense to set up the play-action pass and run concepts.
“Hopefully I can give them some insight,” said Pickett, who won Super Bowl 59 earlier this year with the Philadelphia Eagles as Jalen Hurts’ backup after an unsuccessful stint starting for the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Maximizing time on the practice field – more reps lead to more confidence, Pickett said – is paramount and Cleveland has often split the team into two so a pair of quarterbacks can rotate in and out. It also means that a player may have the chance to run a certain play once the entire camp.
Flacco appears to be the presumed starter but didn’t take many snaps during minicamp by design. Pickett primarily worked with the starters, although the coaching staff gave Gabriel a shot with them, while Sanders has yet to face the first-team defense.
“I think everyone in this game sees themselves as starters and that belief of self is why a lot of guys are in the NFL,” Gabriel said. “So you just continue to improve, continue to challenge yourself.”
Teams can dress three quarterbacks on the game-day roster, but carrying four on the roster is rare. The odds of all four quarterbacks staying in Cleveland through the season are slim.
“Let’s not look too much into who’s out there when we’re in the installation phase, we’re in the teaching phase,” Stefanski said.
Flacco said he trusts Stefanski’s plan and that’s all he can do.
“Listen, I’d love to go out there and take 120 reps a day and get in a groove,” he said.
As a rookie in 2008, Flacco joined the Baltimore Ravens with Kyle Boller and Troy Smith on the roster as the two veterans slated to battle for the starting job. But after camp and before the season, they signed veteran backup Todd Bouman, who was 36 at the time.
“His family was back in Minnesota, and he’d take me out to dinner and go out for a drink here and there, and just an unbelievable person,” Flacco said. “I appreciated it in the moment, but looking back also, it was something that kind of calmed me down because you had a good relationship with somebody in the room you could feel comfortable around and you felt was genuinely rooting for you.”
Having that type of chemistry depends on the personalities in the room, Stefanski said. He remembers being the Vikings’ assistant quarterbacks coach during the season with Brett Favre, Sage Rosenfels, Joe Webb and Tarvaris Jackson.
“I’ve been very fortunate to be in some great rooms with professionals,” Stefanski said. “Guys who try to work hard at their craft but also have some fun while we’re in there.”
For the 2025 Browns, Stefanski is hoping that formula works once again and produces a clear-cut starter that can take Cleveland back to the postseason – or even be the franchise quarterback of the future.
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