Browns OC: Any of our 4 QBs can win starting job

Cleveland Browns offensive coordinator Tommy Rees insists the starting quarterback competition is wide-open heading into mandatory minicamp next week.

"You can see them all winning the job, I think, right?" Rees told reporters. "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."

Joe Flacco, Kenny Pickett, Dillon Gabriel, and Shedeur Sanders form the quartet competing for the starting job. Deshaun Watson, who's the highest-paid player on the team, is scheduled to miss most or all of the 2025 season due to a torn Achilles.

Flacco has the most experience of the four and started five games for Cleveland in 2023. Pickett, 26, is a former first-round pick and was acquired from the Philadelphia Eagles for a fifth-rounder in March.

Gabriel and Sanders were both selected in this year's draft. Sanders was the only quarterback of the group who didn't see first-team reps during Wednesday's practice, according to ESPN's Daniel Oyefusi.

However, the 23-year-old Sanders went viral for throwing a beautiful touchdown pass.

"He's worked his tail off. He's really put in a lot of work, as all those guys are," Rees said of Sanders. "You can tell on the mental side of the game and learning the system, calling it, and having that rhythm to it, he's put a lot of work, time, and effort into that.

"When you do that, the game starts to slow down, and you can focus on finding completions. He's done a nice job of that as camp has progressed."

The Browns will open their season Sept. 7 against the Cincinnati Bengals.