Browns coach Kevin Stefanski wants a decision 'sooner than later' as rookies Dillon Gabriel, Shedeur Sanders compete with vets at QB

Perhaps the most anticipated NFL position battle of the summer began in earnest Wednesday as Cleveland Browns quarterbacks took the field for the first time at training camp.

As of Wednesday, the competition remains a four-way race between rookies Dillon Gabriel and Shedeur Sanders, and veterans Joe Flacco and Kenny Pickett. Head coach Kevin Stefanski would prefer the competition not linger deep into training camp.

"I think the big thing for me is putting our guys into position where we can evaluate them," Stefanski told reporters. "I think they did a great job in the spring — all four of those guys. We'll continue to put them in some situations.

"But ultimately, we'd like to make a decision sooner than later."

Sooner than later would certainly be ideal for the Browns. But the decision — and its timeline — will be determined by the performances of the quarterbacks on the field. Reps aren't necessarily the best indicator of where things stand. Not yet, at least.

So who has the early leg up?

In an interview with Yahoo Sports' Jori Epstein, general manager Andrew Berry explained Cleveland's philosophy on quarterback reps as it pertained to June practice in minicamp. At that point, 17-season NFL veteran Joe Flacco was frequently seen on the sideline.

“Oftentimes, the thought in the NFL is like, ‘OK, well, your starter gets 70% of the reps, your backup gets 25% of the reps and your third guy gets 5% of the reps, and the job of the backups is to be ready to play with no reps,” Berry told Yahoo Sports on June 11. “It doesn’t have to be that way — especially in the spring, when we have some flexibility because we’re not necessarily preparing for games.”

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That said, somebody has to go first, and we got an early look at the practice rotations Wednesday.

Cleveland.com's Mary Kay Kabot reported that that practice session was relatively short and that Flacco and Pickett split first-team reps, while the rookies — Gabriel and Sanders — worked with backups.

How Sanders, Gabriel looked

ESPN Cleveland tracked each quarterback's completion rate during seven-on-seven scrimmages. Each of the quarterbacks threw for one or zero completions except for Sanders, who completed less than half of his attempts.

Here's the tally, per ESPN Cleveland:

Flacco: 5 for 5, 0 TDs, 0 INTs
Sanders: 3 for 8, 0 TDs, 0 INTs
Pickett: 6 for 7, 0 TDs, 0 INTs
Gabriel: 6 for 7, 1 TD, 0 INTs

Local Browns reporter Camryn Justice, meanwhile, put together a compilation video of Sanders throwing and running drills. Many of the throws seen here are from individual and offense-only drills, not the seven-on-seven scrimmage.

His completions in the scrimmage included passes to the sideline and the flat to open targets and a shovel pass to his running back after escaping pressure. His misses included off-target passes to covered receivers in tight windows.

Gabriel, meanwhile, threw the only touchdown pass of the day on a play-action deep ball that connected with his open target after what appeared to be a busted coverage.

How the Browns QB practice rotation looks early

With four quarterbacks involved, the Browns are breaking up their early training camp reps into two segments on two different fields for seven-on-seven drills. The rookies — Gabriel and Sanders — will practice on one field and the veterans — Flacco and Pickett — will practice on another with starters. It's a system that mirrors their spring practices.

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Per ESPN's Daniel Oyefusi, Flacco got the first set of reps over Pickett on the veteran field. Gabriel — who was selected two rounds ahead of Sanders in April's NFL Draft — got the first set of reps on the rookie field.

When it came time for individual drills, the rotation went: Pickett, Flacco, Gabriel, Sanders.

So take that as you will. As Berry alluded to in June, it's probably best to not read too much into the rotations and the reps this early in the process. But the competition is officially underway. And Cabot projected that there would be clarity on the depth chart by the conclusion of an August 16 preseason game against the Eagles, the second of three Browns preseason games.