Kenny Pickett walked off the Browns’ practice field on Wednesday looking like a man who’d just climbed out of a long, dark tunnel and finally saw the light. A hamstring injury had kept him in rehab for over two weeks, no team drills, no real contact, just endless stretching at 6:30 a.m., ice baths, heat pads, and lonely film study. But on August 13, with the Browns wrapping the first practice against the Eagles, he finally looked like himself again. The smile wasn’t forced. The throws had bite. For the first time since July 26, Kenny Pickett looked comfortable.
And the numbers backed it up. In team drill action, Pickett went 5-for-6 with no turnovers, the kind of efficient, low-risk stat line that quietly wins coaches over. Compare that to Joe Flacco’s 6-for-13 and Dillon Gabriel’s 6-for-19 (though Gabriel did cash in for two touchdowns). Tyler Huntley chipped in a tidy 3-for-4, while Shedeur Sanders didn’t record a throw in the team period, something ESPN Cleveland noted post-practice.
For Pickett, those five completions weren’t just routine tosses. They were proof that the rehab grind is translating into on-field rhythm. The injury happened late in a run play, just as he was pushing training camp speed numbers higher than he’d ever hit before. Then, three missed practices. A slow, deliberate reintroduction to the field starting August 1. Head coach Kevin Stefanski’s been cautious, calling it a “day-to-day” process, but even he admitted Pickett’s handled the comeback well. The Browns have kept him out of live team periods, but he’s been shadowing Flacco, Gabriel, and Sanders, living on mental reps and 1-on-1 pocket work.
Browns and Eagles joint practice 1 is in the books. Here’s how all 5 QBs performed in team drills.
No word on why Shedeur Sanders got no team reps today. pic.twitter.com/lPwCsEiUHE
— ESPN Cleveland (@ESPNCleveland) August 13, 2025
And it wasn’t just empty optimism. In those 1-on-1s and red-zone pockets, he impressed the coach. Sure, the hamstring will still limit him for a few weeks. But he’s flipping that limitation into a lab experiment, sharpening the pocket presence, hitting checkdowns, refining the progressions. “I think it gives me a good opportunity to work from the pocket,” as reported by Kelsey Russo of the Cleveland Browns official website. “It could be a real positive.” That’s the kind of quarterback thinking Cleveland needs, not just quarterback throwing.
The bigger story? The QB competition isn’t frozen. Training camp reps are gold, and Pickett knows missing them puts him in a hole. He’s still chasing the starting job, still battling the weight of first impressions in a new city. After all, August has arrived, and we are staring right into the season.
Kenny Pickett’s rookie rival is down with an injury
Both Injury and Browns have 6 words. And despite having 6 QBs on the QB list, the franchise has never seen all of them fully fit. Another quarterback is down in the Browns camp. This time it’s Shedeur Sanders, the rookie who had been carving out his preseason reps with poise beyond his years. One moment, he’s slinging it during joint drills with the Eagles. The next, he’s standing on the sideline, helmet in hand, trainers hovering. Oblique injury, the early word from team sources.
Sanders had been lined up for more reps this weekend against Philly, a chance to build on his sharp debut against the Panthers, where he led the offense in a 30-10 preseason win. But Saturday’s plan just went up in smoke. Per USA TODAY’s Joe Rivera, he was expected to be part of the Browns’ QB rotation in that second preseason game. Now? That rotation is looking more like musical chairs with one fewer seat.
The depth chart tells the story in black and white. Joe Flacco, the grizzled veteran, sits atop it. Behind him, Kenny Pickett and Dillon Gabriel, both mending hamstrings like they’re auditioning for the same injury report. Sanders was the healthy one. The available guy until today. Deshaun Watson? Still parked on IR. It’s almost a quarterback parody, except these are real games and real careers on the line.
The Browns insist nothing’s “serious” beyond Watson’s situation, but the timing here is brutal. For a rookie still learning the league’s speed, every lost rep is a setback.
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