Minicamp moments: Browns DE Myles Garrett in Berea, Dillon Gabriel and Shedeur Sanders increase reps

BEREA, Ohio — The Browns have had a number of offseason workout sessions through rookie minicamp and OTAs—but for the first time this summer, we saw the entire roster working together as Tuesday kicked off the week of mandatory minicamp.

Here are the highlights from the first day:

Myles Garrett arrives

Browns' star defensive end Myles Garrett opted not to attend the recent voluntary OTA sessions, spending his time in Japan and working on his own. On Tuesday, Garrett was back in the building for the mandatory session, but said it wasn't his first time in Berea this offseason.

“Feels good. I mean, I've been back here a couple of times. Don't really make my presence aware to you all," Garrett laughed.

After a rollercoaster offseason for Garrett that saw him first request a trade away from the Browns and then go on to sign a massive four-year contract extension with the team worth $40 million a year with nearly $123 million guaranteed, he enters his ninth season in the NFL with added responsibilities.

As defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz noted last week, it's like the famous quote from a popular superhero flick.

"I really think Myles is going to have the best season of his career and has to, right? You know, I mean, and I’ve told him before…what’s that Spider-Man quote? ‘With great power comes great responsibility,’ right? That’s with the big contract, with the notoriety that came along with that, you know, with the process that took to get him to that point," Schwartz said. "There’s always pressure in this league, but probably a little bit more so. And I think that that brings out the best in players, and I know that’ll be the case with Myles.”

On Tuesday, Garrett responded to that, agreeing that he feels like this could be his best season yet—and appreciating the pop culture reference from his coach.

“With great power comes great responsibility? So that would make him my Uncle Ben, right?" Garrett said. I mean, I look forward to having my best season for sure, and I think it's trending that way. It's been really good, and I think everything's pulling in that direction, and I like where we are as a defensive unit. It's really firing, really rolling, and I think it's really clicking as far as the scheme and the plays, especially early on. That's big.”

In his first open session working against the four quarterbacks in the current competition—Joe Flacco, Kenny Pickett, Dillon Gabriel and Shedeur Sanders, Garrett only got a few reps in against the rookies. While he didn't face Sanders, Garrett did go against Gabriel for a moment in 11-on-11s.

So far, he likes what he's seeing from the young players and the veterans.

“I only really saw Dillon today as far as getting reps in team. He looks composed. He's running the offense pretty well. His eyes got pretty big when I got free and I was face up on him," Garrett said with a grin. "But all of them look pretty calm, just going through their checks, going through their calls, making the plays they need to make, not doing too much right now and they'll have time to continue to display their talents and it's just one day at a time. Continue to earn the trust of your coaches and your teammates, and I think they'll be able to open up the game.”

Gabriel, who took first-team 11-on-11 reps against Garrett, is thankful to call the 6'4", 272-pound pass rusher his teammate.

"I think in one play you definitely see that in one of the team periods," Gabriel said, smiling while recalling the play that saw Garrett rush right at him. "Very happy he's on our team, but also just as a competitor, that's what you look forward to. Playing against the best and him being able to be out here today and us competing, that's huge."

And as offseason workouts continue, Garrett is back in the building and focused on helping to shape up the team, not just the quarterbacks.

"I think the intensity and the urgency just has to take another level, take another level up rather. And I can't expect someone else to do it on any other side of the ball or any other position room. You’ve got to be the leader in the entire team and that's what's been laid out for me. Like you said, Jimmy said it, Kevin said it, and I'll take the reins and I'll be that guy," Garrett said.

Rookies increase workload, Flacco gets a breather

Through this part of the offseason, it's been veteran quarterbacks Joe Flacco and Kenny Pickett taking most of the first-team reps in 7-on-7 and especially in 11-on-11s. On Tuesday, however, Flacco's workload was a bit lighter, with Gabriel getting an increase of first-team reps in the 11-on-11 portion and Sanders joining in more looks during the final red zone portion.

Pickett remained active in team drills and got multiple reps in with tight end David Njoku, who was back in the mix for the mandatory camp, in individual drills.

Head coach Kevin Stefanski said reducing Flacco's reps on Tuesday was part of a bigger plan to continue learning about the new vet in the room and, of course, to continue developing the rookies.

"Just trying to be intentional about everything. Certainly, Joe had fewer reps today. That’s obviously on purpose and just trying to find out, get as much of an evaluation on the guys as we can," Stefanski said.

Through rookie minicamp and OTAs, Gabriel and Sanders have learned a lot and will continue their development. They each have different areas in which they feel they are growing on individual levels.

For Gabriel, it's about sticking to his process.

"You love to stay process-driven. I think for a lot of people, it's a results-based business, so let's not get that wrong, but you have to have a process behind it to be able to create consistent results. And I think whether it's a microwave mentality or that Amazon lifestyle of wanting it right away, sometimes it's just not the case. So being able to have a process, stick to it, continue to listen to your coaches and try to get better that way. That's what I want to do. I want to build a solid foundation so that you're banking on the process and then allowing that to have consistent results," he said.

For Sanders, it's about putting in work across different areas day in and day out.

"I know every day there's room for improvement in a lot of different areas in my game. So I never feel, I would say, full. I would say I'm always hungry, and it's a lot of aspects in football that you could get better at. It's weight room. It's knowing the plays. It's physically. It's throwing different. You could always get precise on more things. So I feel like I put in my day's work, but I know I'm far from where I want to be," he said.

The two rookies have helped each other while also picking the brains of the veterans in the room, and the relationships are continuing to grow amid the competition for the starting role.

“It's real fun having those guys in the room, though, because we all, or quarterbacks, we all feel similar ways, but nobody always talks about it," Sanders said, ready to crack some jokes. "So Joe's the old guy in the room. So I joke with Joe all the time every day I see him. And Kenny, he had his experiences throughout his career overall, so then we just share a lot of the same things. And Dillon, of course, we're the same age group. Those guys are older, so me and Dillon, we're the same age group. So we just talk about our experiences just in college and everything so far.”

Here's a look at each QB on Tuesday:

Joe Flacco

Kenny Pickett

Dillon Gabriel

Shedeur Sanders

Browns new receiver shows up to camp

The Browns didn't draft a wide receiver this year, like some thought they should. Instead, they've added a couple of new faces as undrafted free agents or simply free agents. The latter is the case for Diontae Johnson.

After stints with three teams last season, Johnson visited the Browns in April, and a short time later, he signed with Cleveland. However, Johnson was not in Berea for the voluntary portion of OTAs. On Tuesday, Johnson got to work for the first time in orange and brown, getting more than one look during team drills from different quarterbacks.

“Diontae’s doing a nice job. Obviously, getting up to speed with terminology and those types of things, and I think we’ll just continue to work. But it’s good to have him out here," Stefanski said.

The Browns will hold two more minicamp sessions this week, one on Wednesday and the final on Thursday, before taking another break for the summer and regrouping for training camp.