Browns QB Shedeur Sanders gets majority of work during voluntary minicamp in Berea

BEREA, Ohio — The Cleveland Browns get to take part in some higher-intensity work this week during their voluntary minicamp, an extra week for them in offseason workouts, thanks to having a new head coach in Todd Monken.

This part of the season is bound to stir up plenty of conversations about who the team will name QB1, and while that remains to be determined, we did get our first look at the guys under center as the competition begins.

During Tuesday's voluntary minicamp, the Browns were able to run team activities, including 7-on-7 and 11-on-11s. Monken didn't shy away from running as many of those team drills as they could fit in the day.

"It was awesome. I mean, getting on the grass. Really cool, you get the extra week. Hard on the players, but they handled it great. You go really from Phase One to a Phase Three practice without really the three weeks in between to really do a lot of the installs," Monken said before being asked why he ran so many team reps on the first day, to which he answered, "Because we’re allowed."

The team reps saw all three of the Browns quarterbacks in action. Shedeur Sanders, Deshaun Watson and Dillon Gabriel all participated and got work in on the field, but the former two quarterbacks got the work with the ones.

Sanders and Watson both split reps with the first team throughout 7-on-7s and 11-on-11s. It was part of a plan laid out by new quarterbacks coach Mike Bajakian.

"We were just rotating who was first reps. 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," Monken said.

Sanders did get the larger share of the work, but Watson was right behind him. Gabriel, despite not working with the ones during the session, still got in on the team drill action.

For Sanders, the workload was much different from what he saw last offseason as a rookie. He'll be the first to admit it, but also grateful for the chance to showcase his ability to lead.

"Well, honestly, I mean, I was in practice a little more," Sanders said, laughing a bit. "But no, honestly, it's just the vibe, the overall feeling just of the team. It's the overall feeling of the responsibility of our players. There was one play, I threw Malachi a go ball, and he slowed down and said, "Hey, I gave him that look." I said, "Bro, we can't afford that, bro." You got to say we can't afford that. So then you give guys chances and things go your way, things don't, but at the end. y'all have a serious, deeper connection and then know, okay, now know what this show me. So the next time he got there, he lined up one-on-one, and he was able to go get it. So it's just a responsibility that each and every one of us take to hold each other accountable for everything."

Sanders also said that while it is a competition, the room as a whole is in a good space. He said there's a bond between him, Watson and Gabriel.

"Even in the quarterback room, it's a great relationship in there. Nobody feels any type of way towards each other. We all focus on what we have to do as individuals to get better," Sanders said.

The rep distribution is expected to shift around as the spring and summer work continues, but the competition began to take shape nonetheless on the first day of minicamp.

Here are some looks at each of the quarterbacks from the voluntary minicamp:

Shedeur Sanders

Deshaun Watson

Dillon Gabriel

Now, there were good and bad moments for all three of the quarterbacks on Tuesday, as Monken expressed after the practice.

"I thought the quarterbacks functioned unbelievable today in terms of checking plays, getting us out of cans. I thought that was a highlight, at least offensively. Defensively, it was the three turnovers. We certainly can’t do that offensively. But obviously, turning the ball over three times today, throwing it, but man, it was awesome. Awesome day today," he said.

Here were some of the defensive highlights of the session:

The Browns will continue their three days of voluntary minicamp before breaking again for a short time while the front office ramps up their work on adding new players through the draft, which begins Thursday. The next on-field work the Browns will hold is their rookie minicamp at the start of May.