BEREA — Shedeur Sanders took the first 11-on-11 rep at quarterback on the first day of Todd Monken’s first voluntary minicamp as Browns coach. About the only surprise to Monken was that it wasn’t the first question he was asked after practice.
“He was first man up,” Monken said April 21. “I knew it was coming. Didn’t know who was going to ask it, but I knew it was coming.”
Sanders was right where he was when the Browns’ 2025 season ended, standing in the huddle as QB1. That’s not expected to be the case the next day, when it’s expected to be Deshaun Watson, who hasn’t been QB1 for Cleveland since tearing his Achiiles on Oct. 20, 2024.
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As for the final day of the three-day minicamp? That remains to be seen.
“It’ll change each day,” Monken said. “Each day we’re going to change that to get a look at our guys. We have three days to get a great look at those guys. And it’s awesome to be able to get these extra three days.”
The Browns currently have three quarterbacks on the roster: Sanders, Watson and Dillon Gabriel. Monken has insisted that all three are competiting for the job, although the snap distribution on the first day they were on the field indicated the expected two-man race between the second-year pro Sanders and the veteran Watson.
The two essentially split the reps with what comprised the No. 1 offense for the first day of the voluntary minicamp. However, over the course the roughly hour-and-45-minute practice, the number of total reps tilted slightly toward Sanders on this day.
Sanders started the final six games of the season after taking over when Gabriel sustained a concussion in Week 11. While he’s had his hands on the new playbook for weeks, the minicamp was his first chance to visualize what the offense looks like on the field.
“I like the ability to just play,” Sanders said afterwards. “It’s a lot of different things within the playbook. We haven’t mastered it yet. It’s still early on, but I take advantage of every day, every second of my time, every hour. To be able to go out to practice today and just be able to fully function out there, to be able to know everything. To me, that’s what success is. You got to put your margin to success with what you think, not for what others think. But be able to go out there, operate a new system. A lot of things thrown at you fast. It’s like, OK, it’s a win.”
Watson will be the one getting the slight edge in reps with the first unit when the Browns return to the field for the second day of minicamp. The voluntary minicamp is something the NFL allows teams who have hired new head coaches to do, as long as it’s completed by the start of the draft.
Monken credited quarterbacks coach Mike Bajakian with the way they formatted the practice. All of it was with the design of trying to maximize the exposure they have to 11-on-11 reps.
“We were just rotating who was first reps,” Monken said. “Shedeur to start. There were some other reps. The way it was going to turn out, Shedeur was going to get more reps. Some of it in pass skelly, some of it in team. A couple of the team periods were slowed-down ACT, more run than they were throw. So it was set up in a way for us to get a look at all of them. The plan was to have Shedeur have a few more reps, but to let Deshaun and Shedeur both have reps with the ones.”
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All three quarterbacks spent the entire practice wearing GoPros on their helmets. The idea behind it, as Monken explained, was to be able to “get an idea where their eyes are” both pre- and post-snap.
There was also a question of command, which is what Monken wanted to see all of the quarterbacks bring to the offense when it was their turn. More than anything, though, it was just about seeing how the last couple of weeks of work in the meeting room translated onto the field.
“It felt like it, but until you get out here and actually get on the grass … And obviously the (walkthrough) helped,” I mean, you all weren’t here for the walk, but to get a lot of the plays early, get some of the kinks out, repeat it, right? A lot of the same things we did on the field, which is why you do the walk, so we can get out here and execute, at least try to execute at a high level. But I’ve seen a lot of positives from them being able to take from the meeting rooms. Now we’ll see tomorrow, because tomorrow’s a new install. So, now building from today to tomorrow, right? We’ll see.”
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. Sign up for Browns Insider newsletter at https://profile.beaconjournal.com/newsletters/browns-insider/
This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Shedeur Sanders 1st up at QB for Browns minicamp, for 1st day at least
Reporting by Chris Easterling, Akron Beacon Journal / Akron Beacon Journal
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