Pickett: Browns' QB competition not contentious

BEREA (AP) — Kenny Pickett realizes that almost all the offseason attention devoted to the Cleveland Browns is on the quarterback competition. Pickett wants to make one thing abundantly clear, though — even though it is a competition, things haven't gotten heated inside the quarterback room. "I think the outside world makes it a lot bigger than it is. Of course, we're all competing, but you become friends with everybody," Pickett said on Wednesday after the Browns completed their second day of organized team activities. "I think it's a great media headline, but when you get in the building in a quarterback room and at least all the ones I've been in, you really become friends with these guys, and we're just pushing each other." Pickett and Joe Flacco got the majority of the snaps with the veterans. Third-round pick Dillon Gabriel got one series of 11-on-11 drills on the main field, while fifth-round selection Shedeur Sanders had none. Gabriel and Sanders got most of their work with the other rookies on the adjacent field. Even though he is 40 years old, Flacco is the slight favorite to be under center when the Browns host the Cincinnati Bengals on Sept. 7 in the season opener. "It's funny, it's like every time I go out here in the offseason, I've done it a million times, but it's like there's a little piece of you that's like, 'all right, let's see if I still know how to read it and let it go and do all those things.' So it's good to get back out there and start doing it again," said Flacco, the AP Comeback Player of the Year in 2023, after he went 4-1 as a starter and led the Browns to the playoffs for only the third time since their return in 1999. Even though Flacco said this is the first quarterback competition of this magnitude he has experienced since being a sophomore in high school in Audubon, New Jersey, he isn't focused too much on it at this stage of the offseason. "I'm just going out there and doing what I do, and everything else is kind of out of my control. So all I can do is go out there and play football and that's what I'm doing," Flacco said. The Browns acquired Pickett in a trade with Philadelphia when the league year opened in March. Pickett started one game last season for the Super Bowl champion Eagles while backing up Jalen Hurts. He was 14-10 as a starter in two years with Pittsburgh after being the Steelers first-round pick in 2022. Pickett admitted that there are more similarities between the Eagles' and Browns' offenses than most people realize. The biggest thing he has focused on is getting up to speed with the terminology. "I think it has gone well. They're doing a great job of getting everyone reps to get experience with the offense and get a feel for everybody," he said. Pickett and Flacco both have developed a good rapport with Jerry Jeudy. The sixth-year wide receiver had one of the day's best catches on a deep route from Flacco on one of the first plays during 11-on-11 drills. "It's been good. I don't think there were many dropped balls," Jeudy said. "So quarterbacks were putting balls right on the money and receivers were making plays. We're going to keep doing that." Gabriel had a pass tipped at the line of scrimmage and picked off by first-round pick Mason Graham. Both Gabriel and Sanders fared well in 7-on-7 drills against rookies. Coach Kevin Stefanski said all of the rookies' snaps remain valuable, whether they are on or off the field. "They're being graded on every play. And there's a variety of things that they're being graded on, but for the quarterback, decision-making, technique, accuracy, those type of things," he said. "We love the opportunity being out here on the practice field and have two drills where we can maximize all the time that we're out here." Garrett's absence There were two notable absences at Wednesday's voluntary practice. Defensive end Myles Garrett is in Japan and accompanied Olympic snowboard gold medalist Chloe Kim at the Crunchyroll Anime Awards. Stefanski said he didn't know if Garrett would be back with the team before the mandatory minicamp begins on June 10. Wide receiver Diontae Johnson, who signed with the team on May 5, might be the bigger no-show since the Browns are his fourth team in less than a year. "I'm worried about day to day, but let me reiterate, this is a voluntary program across the NFL guys,″ Stefanski said. "That's their right, whether they're here or not. The guys that are here, we coach 'em up. The guys that aren't here, that is totally their decision to make."