When the Browns entered the 2025 offseason, one of the biggest questions surrounding their roster was at the quarterback position. Deshaun Watson re-ruptured his Achilles tendon and was set to miss a significant amount of time of the 2025 season.

So, ahead of free agency, the Browns made moves to rebuild the quarterback room. They acquired Pickett in a trade with the Eagles in March. They signed Flacco in April. Then, two weeks later, the Browns drafted Gabriel in the third round and Sanders in the fifth round of the 2025 NFL Draft.

Their room now consisted of four healthy quarterbacks, ranging from a veteran with 17 years of experience to two rookies. From there, the next step started with creating a philosophy for a full quarterback room and a plan for how to execute a quarterback competition through OTAs, minicamp, training camp and the preseason.

It also required Stefanski, offensive coordinator Tommy Rees and quarterbacks coach Bill Musgrave to all be aligned on their vision of the quarterback position. The communication between the trio has been paramount as they developed the same language that has translated to how they teach their quarterbacks and make their decisions out on the football field.

"You just think about the dynamics and the personalities in that room," Stefanski said. "You have Bill who's been a backup quarterback in this league for a very long time, been a quarterback coach, been a coordinator, has seen a lot and shares that experience with the group. And then Tommy, who's a young coach but is also in his own right seen a lot and has a great way of thinking about the game and making sure that room is getting the best coaching we can possibly give them, as we try to reach each one of these guys."

With their own established foundation, the trio formulated a philosophy for the quarterback room – maximize opportunities and reps.

"We've met, quite a bit, the three of us to sit down and delegate reps and delegate opportunities for guys," Rees said. "We've tried to carve out an identity of what we want the quarterback position to look like. Catching up rookies with a guy that's been in the NFL for 15+ years and trying to bridge the gap there, how we run meetings and how we build extra time for some of those young guys to get caught up to speed. So, Coach Stefanski would say it takes a village to raise a quarterback, and all of us are playing our part in that and it's been a great group to work with, both players and coaches."

To maximize reps, Stefanski got creative in finding reps for all four quarterbacks during OTAs and minicamp. They utilized a "two-spot" format during portions of practice, breaking the team into two separate groups to run the drills simultaneously. Each group rotated between two quarterbacks taking the reps, which put the quarterbacks in position to receive different looks and maximize their time on the practice field.

The groupings of quarterbacks switched over the course of minicamp and training camp. During some drills, Flacco and Pickett would work with one unit while Gabriel and Sanders worked with another. In others, they would mix up the pairings of rookies and veterans to run through drills. Through that approach, each quarterback took necessary reps with different groupings of players.

"I think in any quarterback room it's really important that you build a bond of everybody working together as one and seeing things through one set of eyes and making sure that everybody has shared success," Rees said. "And so, with all those reps and with all those opportunities, each guy can learn and grow. I'm pleased with the way it has gone and pleased with the commitment the group has given."

As they split the reps up, the coaching staff also focused on teaching their two rookies the offensive scheme. From the beginning of rookie minicamp all the way through their install periods, the coaching staff has worked closely with Gabriel and Sanders to adjust to the style of NFL offenses and defenses. Stefanski said they approached the process like a curriculum, teaching them what an NFL defense looks like, their specific offensive system and different terminology.

As the quarterbacks coach, Musgrave has spent hours in the meeting room with Gabriel and Sanders reviewing scheme and terminology. Musgrave said they have focused heavily on acclimating them to huddle plays instead of being at the line of scrimmage, as well as being under center for both run and pass plays.

As the first portion of training camp continued, the Browns ended the use of "two-spotting" and created a rotation of quarterbacks in team drills. In certain settings, all four quarterbacks took reps – with the order in which those reps took place also rotating. In others only Gabriel and Sanders would rep, or Pickett and Flacco, or some combination of the four.

"The reps aren't split up equal," Stefanski said. "It's not 25 percent for each guy. But we're giving everybody what we feel like they need in order to develop number one and in order to get this football team ready for Week One of this season, 17-plus season. We're just trying to get everybody ready in their own way."

The quarterback room has also dealt with injuries through the first phase of training camp and into the preseason. Pickett suffered a hamstring injury on July 26, which caused him to miss three full practices before returning in a limited capacity on Aug. 1. Gabriel also dealt with hamstring tightness and was limited beginning Aug. 4 through the first week of the preseason. Sanders experienced arm soreness on Aug. 2 and was shut down in practice early that day before returning on Aug. 4.

All the injuries required the Browns to sign a fifth quarterback in Tyler Huntley ahead of the first preseason game against the Panthers. As quarterbacks returned to practice in either a limited capacity or to team drills, the reps were distributed in a particular order.

Even through the injuries, Pickett and Gabriel found ways to take mental reps and stay engaged in the process. Pickett said he runs through the play calls in his head, envisioning going to the line of scrimmage, seeing the defense and making the checks he would make in order to steal a rep. Gabriel has taken a similar approach as he stands behind the offense and reviews the coverage, progressions, cans, alerts or kills, as well as certain footwork – all in an effort to stay as engaged as possible.

Regardless of who is in taking the physical rep, the coaching staff has witnessed the evolution of each quarterback over the course of camp – no matter the stage of their career.

"I've been impressed with how they work," Stefanski said. "I've been impressed how they take the meeting room to the practice field. One of the things they've done a really nice job of through camp is taking care of the football. That's an emphasis for this entire group, certainly an emphasis for our offense, and something we haven't done well enough the last couple of years. So, to see those guys perform on the practice field, in the game settings and take care of the football is a very big deal."

When Gabriel sits in the meeting room, he has his iPad in front of him with a note section pulled up. As the coaching staff runs through film and evaluates the tape, Gabriel takes notes on each rep.

He writes down the name of the player who took the rep, the clip or the play, as well as the coaching point for that specific play. He stacks those notes with the install that features drawings and notes – all so that he can go back and review the coaching points.

"I think it's consistent reminders every single day," Gabriel said. "And it's the little details – even on a quick game, you may be wide on an out throw and you may have forgotten to tighten up that footwork or making sure that you're on time. So, you see the corner on an outbreak or certain things like that where you just want to be reminded of it and I try to consistently remind myself through my notes."

Pickett takes his own approach to review the tape. He listens to how the coaching staff sees a certain concept or look, as well as explains how his perspective. Flacco – who brings examples from his 17 seasons in the league – still learns from the coaching points and takes the teaching moments to heart. As a quarterback room, they talk through their reps to create open dialogue, with the veterans sharing approaches in the past, to foster learning and growth.

Their work in the meeting room is one of the multiple factors the coaches are evaluating. Each quarterback has also been mic'd up during practices, which the coaching staff uses to listen to the cadence of each call, as well as hear how they call plays in the huddle and break the huddle.

The goal of hearing how they call the plays is to have it all sound similar across the board – no matter the quarterback under center – for the other 10 players on the field. Stefanski said they want the quarterbacks to use the same terminology and verbiage to create consistency even through the rotation. While each quarterback's voice sounds different, they have focused on matching the cadences as closely as possible.

Those elements all play their own role in the synergy of the quarterback room and the evaluation process. The coaching staff is considering numerous factors, including the stage of the individual quarterback's career, leadership style, communication and on-field execution.

"It's an all-encompassing evaluation of players," Stefanski said. "I had a coach in college used to tell me he's evaluating how I walk out to the practice field. We're just always watching, and we want to see what these guys are doing obviously on the field, obviously in games, but certainly in the meeting room, in the weight room. At the walkthroughs are they getting all those coaching points? So, we as coaches really want our players to understand that we're evaluating everything they do because there's a lot that goes into this position. But certainly, your play on the field is very important."

Yet, while each aspect plays its part, execution is the main principle the Browns are after. Rees said they are looking for their quarterbacks to make sound decisions and take care of the football.

"Once we feel like we're comfortable there, it's who can go out there and run the offense the way it's supposed to be run and create some plays for the offense to have some explosives and move the ball," Rees said.

Not only have the Browns battled through two weeks of training camp at CrossCountry Mortgage Campus, but they are also in the thick of the preseason in the middle of their second set of joint practices.

The first set – which was new for Stefanski to hold a joint practice in the first week of the preseason – came against the Panthers. The second came in the second week of the preseason, with two joint practices against the Eagles.

In those practices, the Browns used the reps for their veteran players, while they saved preseason game reps for younger players and rookies. Flacco took a majority of the first team reps against the Panthers and against the Eagles, as Pickett worked through his return from a hamstring injury and only participated in 7-on-7 drills. Gabriel took his first team drills following his hamstring injury on Aug. 11 and stacked consecutive days of team drills in joint practices with the Eagles.

"You see the ability of the quarterback to be able to process early, process post snap and react to what the defense is doing," Rees said. "And what we try to tell them is, hey, we have to play our plays on principle, and we want to see how quickly they can react to a defense without a ton of game planning and pre-game studying going into it."

After facing a Jim Schwartz attack-style defense for the first two weeks of training camp, seeing another defensive scheme is especially beneficial for the quarterbacks because of the controlled environment they can create. The quarterbacks wear different colored jerseys – for Cleveland, that jersey is orange – so there is no contact in drills. The coaching staff is also able to script the practice and create different scenarios for the quarterbacks to simulate – such as a 2-minute drive, third-and-long, high red zone or low red zone – to be intentional about what they want to see.

"When you're going against the same defense every day, you may not get to all the throws in a progression," Pickett said. "I think by going through some joint practices and seeing different looks, you get to some guys later in the progression where here we may get to them in 1 or 2, in that same play against Philly we could get to 3 to 4, because of the different looks that we see by them defensively. So, I think it offers a lot for us."

However, injuries have taken another toll on the quarterback room as Sanders sustained an oblique strain throwing early in drills during the first joint practice with the Eagles. He did not practice on the second day and is unlikely to play in the second preseason game against the Eagles.

But Sanders' start against the Panthers proved beneficial. After only taking certain reps in the joint practice, a majority of his reps came during the game. Stefanski said Sanders knew that most of his reps would come in a game setting, and he used the first preseason game to his advantage.

As Sanders took the field for the first time in Browns' uniform at Bank of America Stadium, he felt a variety of emotions.

"I'd say that's the least worried I ever felt in my life. It was the least pressure I felt in my life when I was out there," Sanders said. "I didn't really feel those nerves and just those different aspects of getting ready to play in an NFL game."

The Browns have a set standard in the quarterback room to take the field and operate, which Sanders showcased at a high level through managing pressure from the Panthers' defense and throwing with accuracy to his receivers. That calm demeanor allowed him to operate the offense with success, completing 14 of 23 passes for 138 yards and two touchdowns.

For Rees, Sanders' NFL debut demonstrated a key piece of progression for the rookie.

"You start with his ability to run the offense with smooth operation, and I thought he did that for the most part throughout the game," Rees said. "Obviously taking care of the football is at an all-time premium in those preseason games. You're out there with a lot of different guys, a lot of different wideouts, a lot of different linemen, so that's really important. And then, he made some great throws and extended some plays that really resulted in explosives. So again, you saw some of his natural instinct to play the quarterback position during the game, and a lot of things to correct, but a lot of signs of growth throughout training camp and a lot of signs of his ability to move the offense successfully."

When the Browns face the defending Super Bowl champions in the second preseason matchup, the starting quarterback is yet to be decided. Evaluations of injuries were needed before a decision could be made on who will take the field for the Browns on Aug. 16 – another bend in the road for the ultimate decision of the starting quarterback for Week 1 of the regular season.