CHARLOTTE, N.C. — It’s almost impossible to get away from the shadows that the Browns’ quarterback competition have cast over everything. That includes the first joint practice and preseason game.
The four-way battle for the quarterback job, one that somehow now has a fifth participant in recently-signed Tyler Huntley, has loomed over everything for months. The hamstring injuries which have led to Joe Flacco, Shedeur Sanders and, with his signing, Huntley being the only quarterbacks who aren’t been labeled as limited have only sharpened the focus.
However, when the Browns line up against the Carolina Panthers for a joint practice Aug. 6, it won’t just be the quarterbacks under the microscope. It’ll will be everyone who’s competing, because it’ll be a chance for everyone to find out what they look like against a non-teammate.
The joint practice — or, for that matter, the preseason opener between the same two teams two days later — won’t be the end-all, be-all, any more than the two joint practices and second preseason game next week against the Philadelphia Eagles. It’ll be a data point, something to go into an ever-increasing equation that will result in figuring out starting jobs and roster spots.
“I feel like there’s value in everything in what we’re seeing from the guys,” coach Kevin Stefanski said Aug. 4. “We value how they do in the meeting room. We value how they are in the walk through like I mentioned earlier, we value all these practice reps. Of course, when you’re going up against another team and it’s a setting where maybe you don’t know exactly what the defense is going to do or the offense is going to do, I think there’s certainly value created in that.”
The quarterbacks are going to continue to be the area where the discussion starts. Stefanski didn’t necessarily have everything set in stone for how that specific spot was going to play out both days in Carolina even before Huntley was signed just before dusk on Aug. 4.
Huntley’s role, at least for the time being, is to be a reps eater. His presence, with Pickett and Gabriel likely not playing in the game, means the Browns don’t have to throw Flacco out for an extended period of time — if at all — nor do they have to throw Sanders, the rookie fifth-round pick, out to play four full quarters in his first NFL competition.
The quarterback in both the joint practice and the game against the Panthers, whoever it is for a given play or series, is a piece of the puzzle that Stefanski and offensive coordinator Tommy Rees have continually couched in talk of “process.” Everything about the quarterbacks individually and offense as a whole has been placed as part of something larger, with each step defined with the micro instead of the macro, as a step in that process instead of viewing it as a result.
Rees said they would “save all the overreactions for you guys” — meaning the media — after this week’s results against the Panthers. Still, there’s a reality that this week’s joint practice and preseason game will start to produce some “results” that can be chewed upon just by Stefanski’s own admission.
“Well, I mean, ultimately this is a results business,” Stefanski said. “This game is about results. We know that. But I think you’re doing yourself a disservice if you’re not hyper focused on your process as a player, as a coach. Whether you have success in a given play or not, are you learning from that play? I mean, that all speaks to the process that allows you to play well on Sundays. I mean, that’s the ultimate goal. But we’re pretty process driven. And another way of saying that is we take practice very seriously. We take the work we do in the building very seriously. And that all adds up to putting yourself in position to play good football.”
Off that quarterback question is a general question about the way the offense has looked through 10 training camp practices. It’s, by and large, has not been crisp at all, save for moments here or there.
The running game continues to try to figure out its own rotation with Nick Chubb having departed and second-round pick Quinshon Judkins not signed as he deals with a domestic violence charge behind an offensive line trying to get back to its old ways. The wide receiver corps continues to try and sort out who can be counted on beyond Jerry Jeudy.
“I think it falls under the category of the guys are doing everything we’re asking them to do,” Stefanski said Aug. 2. “I think they’re practicing hard. I think they’re understanding some of the nuance in our scheme. They’re certainly understanding some of the new techniques that are being taught by their coaches. So really have a pretty narrow focus when it comes to where we are as a football team, just in general, but certainly offensively, just focusing on making sure that they’re getting an understanding of the schemes and the techniques.”
That offense, however, has had to go against a defense that has appeared in the moment to be getting back to its 2023 form when it was the No. 1 statistical defense in the league in Jim Schwartz’s first season as defensive coordiantor. Defensive end Myles Garrett has looked like one of the best players in the league, as has cornerback Denzel Ward.
Beyond that, the two rookie defensive players drafted in April — defensive tackle Mason Graham and linebacker Carson Schwesinger — have popped in their first training camp. That’s on top of multiple other players flashing here or there, all of which is something Schwartz himself is trying to put in the proper perspective.
“I think you do see good signs, right?,” Schwartz said Aug. 4. “And you’re looking for communication and you’re looking for individual effort and you’re looking for things like that. But when it’s all said and done, it’s got to be on the field and what happens in training camp, that can be good signs, and that can sort of lead you in a direction, but until you do it on the field and you do it consistently on the field, that’s all it is. It’s just a good sign. … But this time of year, we’re really just trying to keep our eyes on what’s there that day and not worry about a whole lot other than that.”
Chris Easterling can be reached at ceasterling@thebeaconjournal.com. Read more about the Browns at www.beaconjournal.com/sports/browns. Follow him on X at @ceasterlingABJ
This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Browns QB question looms over all others ahead of Carolina joint practice, preseason game
Reporting by Chris Easterling, Akron Beacon Journal / Akron Beacon Journal
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