The draft slide meets a crowded room
A few months ago, the idea of Shedeur Sanders lasting to pick No. 144 would’ve sounded crazy. Yet here he is in Cleveland, a fourth-rounder with a big name, stepping into a quarterback room that already includes veteran Kenny Pickett, a seasoned Joe Flacco, and fellow rookie Dillon Gabriel from Oregon. It’s a lot of arms, and a lot of eyes on every rep.
This is also Tommy Rees’s first season as an NFL offensive coordinator. He’s been in big jobs before — he ran Notre Dame’s offense and played quarterback there — but the league is a different animal. There’s more noise, fewer reps, and higher stakes. Rees has said all four Browns quarterbacks have a shot and that they’re early in the process. That’s how it should be in May and June. But the process is already under the microscope because of Sanders’s profile and the way the draft played out.
Rees has kept his criteria simple: decision-making, timing, and fundamentals over raw completion percentage in shorts. He praised Sanders for “working his tail off” in organized team activities and pointed to the obvious gap between college and the NFL — huddle command, verbiage, and the flow of a pro offense. It’s not glamorous work. It’s day-to-day, detail-by-detail stuff.
So why the drama? The Browns have four quarterbacks for, at most, three active roster spots. Local chatter suggests there’s tension around how reps are being split and whether Sanders is getting even routine scout work. That’s touchy territory for any staff. OTA periods are short, quarterbacks don’t get hit, and there are only so many 7-on-7 and team snaps to go around. If a rookie falls behind in May, it can snowball by August. That’s the fear people whisper about — not a verdict, just the risk.
The room itself is a study in contrasts. Pickett has starting tape and the scars that come with it. Flacco brings years of answers — blitz looks he’s seen a thousand times, throws he’s made in every stadium in the league. Gabriel arrives with accurate, fast-trigger habits from a spread world at Oregon. Sanders offers poise, arm talent, and brand pressure that follows him everywhere. It’s on Rees to sift through the styles and run an offense that can function no matter who takes first snap in Week 1.
Sanders’s slide is still the backdrop. Scouts loved the toughness he showed at Colorado, but many flagged how often he was hit, how long he held the ball, and how hard it would be to separate what was his fault from what was protection breakdown. The NFL then piles on new demands: more full-field reads, under-center footwork, heavier protection checks, changing cadence, and run-game ownership. College stars don’t always struggle with talent. They struggle with speed of trust — getting the ball out on time when every window closes a half-second faster.
Rees knows this beat. At Notre Dame, he lived quarterback competitions — earning a job as a player and adjudicating them as a coach. The markers he’ll care about now aren’t highlight throws. They’re mundane: calling a huddle cleanly, getting the formation right, killing a play vs. pressure, and getting to a safe check on third-and-medium. Anyone can complete a shallow cross in June. Can you fix the protection three snaps later when the defense bluffs one thing and brings another?
The Browns’ calendar will sort some of the noise. There’s a ramp from OTAs to mandatory minicamp, then a long quiet before training camp. Camp brings real tests: two-minute drills with crowd noise, full-field red-zone periods, and joint practices where the defense doesn’t know your script. The preseason is where jobs get won now — three games, heavier install, and film the whole league watches.
Roster math raises the stakes. Teams keep 53 on the active roster and can carry 16 on the practice squad. There’s an emergency third-quarterback rule on game day, which nudges some clubs to keep three on the roster. Cutting a fourth-rounder is risky because younger players are subject to waivers — anyone can claim them. Stashing a quarterback on the practice squad only works if he clears, and quarterbacks almost never clear when there’s fresh draft buzz.
All of that makes the rep economy precious. How do you break it down? One common approach early in camp: veterans share most of the first-team work to stabilize the install, while rookies live with the twos and threes, then everyone rotates through situational periods (third down, red zone, backed up). If Sanders isn’t in those buckets often enough, development slows. If he is, the optics calm down fast.
There’s also scheme fit to weigh. Rees comes from pro-style DNA: multiple tight ends, heavier personnel, play-action, and coverage answers that reward footwork and timing. That can help a rookie because the reads are defined, but it also demands discipline. Shotgun comfort is great; under center on a seven-step with a firm hitch and a layered throw? That’s where the pro polish shows up. Sanders and Gabriel will be graded on the same curve: clear eyes, steady feet, clean pockets when possible, and solving chaos when it’s not.
The “soap opera” label around the room probably says more about expectations than fact. A famous last name, a sudden draft slide, and a first-time NFL play-caller is a recipe for hot takes. Inside a building, the checklist is colder: who runs the huddle, who avoids the bad play, who takes the free yards, who keeps the chains moving in two-minute. Those answers decide depth charts more than social buzz.
What should fans watch next? A few tells will matter in June and July:
- Rep distribution in team periods — especially red zone and two-minute.
- Protection control — who changes the play cleanly when the front shifts.
- Time-to-throw — not just completions, but on-time decisions versus air.
- Turnover avoidance — batted balls, late throws, tipped picks.
- Command — quick huddles, no wasted motions, smooth operation from call to snap.
If Pickett wins the job, it’ll be because he stacked routine, not flash. If Flacco holds it, it’ll be trust in high-leverage downs. If a rookie climbs fast, it’ll be because the operation looks the same with him as it does with the vets — steady, on schedule, and calm. For Sanders, a “redshirt” year on the 53 while he learns the system is a real path. So is competing all the way through August if the reps and the curve go his way.
For now, Rees keeps steering back to the process. The Browns have time, four quarterbacks who can play, and a staff that knows the NFL doesn’t hand out jobs in June. The film will tell the story when the pads come on.