As expected, Dillon Gabriel was under center when the Browns conducted their first rep of the first 11-on-11 drill at rookie minicamp. (TheLandOnDemand)
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Editor's note: Tony Grossi is a Cleveland Browns analyst for TheLandOnDemand.com and 850 ESPN Cleveland. He has covered the Browns since 1984.
Takeaways from Browns rookie minicamp Day 1 …
The Shedeur Sanders era began on the first day of Browns rookie minicamp with some mild surprises.
* GM Andrew Berry added 27 tryout invitees to join the seven draft picks and 13 signed undrafted free agents to give Kevin Stefanski 47 players to conduct a full-scale practice of 90 minutes that included two 11-on-11 team periods and two 7-on-7 periods.
* Afterwards, Stefanski allowed that the rookie camp is not exclusively instruction. The competition indeed is on.
“I think it’s both. I think you can do both,” he said. “I think part of who we are, part of our core, is being competitive. That’s what we do in sport. That’s certainly what we do in this building, out on these fields, everything. We’re constantly competing. Now you’re also competing with yourself, of course, but everything we’re doing is always competitive.”
What wasn’t a surprise was Stefanski’s choice to take the first snap in the first 11-on-11 period. It was Dillon Gabriel, the diminutive third-round pick from Oregon, over Sanders, the fifth-round pick from Colorado, Deion’s son, the overwhelming people’s choice.
Why Gabriel, I asked the coach.
“Yeah, I wouldn’t look into really anything,” he answered.
But what went into the order, I pressed. Was it merely a case of the higher-drafted player getting the first reps?
“Yeah, I wouldn’t look into anything,” Stefanski said. “I think you’ll see the whole weekend, going through the spring … I mean, we don’t pay too close attention to who’s in that first snap.”
So will the order change on Saturday, I pestered.
“Hey, will you be here? I’ll see you here,” Stefanski responded.
OK, fine. That’s the way it’s going to be. The coach won’t even say Gabriel took the first snaps because he was the higher-drafted player. That would have been an easy way of explaining it … but, no.
Such are the unspoken nuances of drafting the most popular and most famous player of the 2025 NFL draft in the fifth round and having him take reps second, not first.
On the field, Gabriel displayed everything the Browns liked when they surprisingly selected him with the 94th overall pick of the draft in the third round.
He was pinpoint accurate on most throws against air, and in the 7-on-7 and team periods. A few of his passes were dropped by the receivers attending on a tryout basis. His RPMs on his throws were noticeably better than Sanders’ and his tight spirals were consistent on all levels, though there were few deep balls written into the script. He looked like a left-handed Russell Wilson, vintage 2012 – short but wide, assertive and confident.
That is not to say Sanders didn’t have his moments.
He looked comfortable under center and in shotgun in the two main competitive periods. A number of his passes bobbled, just like in his pro day workout. But Sanders does have a way of getting the ball to his target on time, despite a lack of velocity that was accentuated by being on the same field with Gabriel. He, too, wasn't able to display his long ball game on the first day.
Sanders was not inaccurate, at all, and demonstrated his innate ability to layer the ball in between coverages.
“They were as advertised,” Stefanski concluded of the rookie quarterbacks. “I thought both guys did a really nice job and there’s so much to work on. And it’s the minutiae of the position, it’s some technique things, it’s the operation needs to get better, all those things. That’s why we’re here. That’s why we’re going to work really hard over the next few days to get these guys ready for when they join the veterans on Monday.”
Gabriel and Sanders were the only two of the seven drafted players who were not available for interviews. They will get their time at the podiums Saturday morning before they take the field for a second day.
Everybody’s competing
Berry populated the camp with 27 players invited on a tryout basis. Seven of them come from Mid-American Conference schools – punter Avery Book of Akron, linebacker Ty Wise of Miami, linebacker Donald Willis of Western Michigan, defensive tackle Ralphs Holley of Western Michigan, receiver Cade McDonald of Miami (who didn’t miss a target), receiver Malcolm Johnson of Bowling Green, and receiver Luke Floriea of Kent State.
The extras were brought in for the coaches to be able to give the quarterbacks equal and extended reps in team and 7-on-7 drills.
“The idea there is just to maximize reps for those guys, you know, what we’re trying to do,” Stefanski said. “And that was part of the idea of bringing in some tryout players this weekend. Now, those tryout players are trying to make the football team. They’re not just here for practice. I was around a tryout player a few years ago named Adam Thielen. So, we’re giving these guys every chance they can to put their best foot forward.”
Fast friends
The two drafted running backs – Quinshon Judkins (second round) and Dylan Sampson (fourth round) – already have developed a Nick Chubb-Kareem Hunt camaraderie.
Running backs coach Duce Staley had them square off against each other in footwork drill that looked like a dead heat at the finish. Both players thought they’d finished first. Staley said the film would determine the winner.
Both backs displayed instant explosion with their first two or three steps upon getting the ball from the quarterbacks.
“It’s been good,” Sampson said of his budding relationship with Judkins. “You can tell we’re gonna be able to push each other, gonna be able to learn a lot from each other. Me and Quinshon, I can tell, we’re going to have a good relationship. I’m glad to be in the backfield with him, along with the other guys as well.”
Judkins was asked about filling the big shoes of franchise icon Nick Chubb. In an interview on 92.3 The Fan, Berry termed it “increasingly unlikely” Chubb would return. Chubb is unsigned and may have to sit out until a team loses a back during training camp or early season.
“Nick Chubb is a great running back,” Judkins said. “He’s done a lot of great things here. I’m excited to come in and do what I can, me and Dylan both contributing to the team, me starting my own legacy. I think the coaches have put me in a great position to do that.”
Brownie bits
Stefanski said that linebacker Devin Bush has been attending the offseason program in the building, but he declined to comment on Bush’s future after he was arrested for simple assault of his girlfriend in Pennsylvania on Sunday …
Stefanski said players were in the building at 7 in the morning to prepare for the first practice, and they had “a lot of homework” to go over before Saturday’s session. “We’ll install plays on offense and defense that maybe we won’t even practice, but we want them to spend the time out of this building in their playbook and then be ready to roll tomorrow morning, so we’ll all sleep well,” he said …
All the rookie draft picks will stay over and join the veterans in OTAs next week. Stefanski won’t say how he’ll prioritize reps for the QBs when all four are on the field together. “We’ll work through that. I know this will probably fall on deaf ears, but don’t look too much into it, okay? There’s plenty of reps. There’s a lot of time between now and September, so we’ll have a plan. But it’s an all-encompassing evaluation. It’s not something that it’s just based on the practice reps. There’s a lot that goes into it.”