Cleveland Browns Minicamp Recap – Which players shined?

The quarterback completion begins.

Mandatory minicamp for the Cleveland Browns has wrapped up, as it took place from June 10-12. Here is a recap of some of the headlines from the past few days.

Cleveland Browns Mandatory Minicamp Report – June 2025

1. Spotlight on the Rookie Quarterbacks: The fact that we have a quarterback stat tracker for OTAs + minicamp is amusing, compiled by ESPN Cleveland. With that said, we can still use the data to tell us a few things related to rep counts and how these periods obviously favor offense vs. defense, something that will change once training camp rolls around.

Overall, the reps were distributed pretty evenly, except for QB Joe Flacco, who received about half the amount of reps as the others. Combined, the quarterbacks threw for 26 touchdowns to 1 interception.

Many eyes are on rookie quarterbacks Shedeur Sanders and Dillon Gabriel. Here is a clip below of Sanders throwing a touchdown after looking off the defense:

And then here is a clip of the lefty Gabriel throwing a strike for a touchdown:

A good summary of some thoughts from Mary Kay Cabot is here, based on the reps the quarterbacks are receiving. In a nutshell, the perception is that Sanders is strictly playing against the third-teamers, as the team projects him as a developmental player still. Gabriel, and veteran Kenny Pickett, have been getting first-team reps as the team tries to assess whether they work well with the offense, to help judge starter vs. backup candidates. Of course, there’s also the thought floated out there that the Miami Dolphins could be interested in trading for a Browns quarterback at some point.

So, what did we learn from the quarterbacks during mandatory minicamp? Nothing that we didn’t already know, but it’s nice to see each of the quarterbacks getting reps and performing well in the early stages. Let’s see what happens when training camp hits, and those defensive backs are more feisty and the pass rush is closer to game speed.

2. Tight Window Catches Can’t Hurt: The Browns pretty confidently have TE David Njoku and rookie TE Harold Fannin atop their depth chart at tight end, but who will be the third tight end? Cleveland only has five tight ends on the roster right now, none of whom are undrafted free agents. During this week of practices, TE Tre’ McKitty, a fourth-year player out of George, was a frequent target of the quarterbacks, snagging some nice catches in tight windows.

3. Stick that Big Paw Up There: Cleveland strengthened the defensive tackle position this year with No. 5 overall pick DT Mason Graham, as well as veteran DT Maliek Collins. While defenders can’t make big plays with contact, one of the safe things they can do is stick their hands up, which the veteran did twice on Thursday:

4. We Need a Rebound Year From…: …CB Martin Emerson. He was my projected breakout star prior to last season, and then in my opinion, he underperformed. Here he is flying in to break up a deep pass intended for WR Jerry Jeudy:

5. Injured Combatants Returning: It’s nice to see some more depth back from injuries suffered a year ago, including WR Cedric Tillman, WR Michael Woods, OT Dawand Jones, DE Alex Smith. The first-team defensive line on Thursday began with DE Myles Garrett, Collins, Graham, and Wright.

Players who were absent from minicamp due to injuries still included QB Deshaun Watson, WR David Bell, and DT Mike Hall. Although we did have one shot of Watson watching practice from a distance, for a bit.

6. Drill of the Day(s): Here is RB Jerome Ford showing off his quickness, as he might be projected to take a back seat on the depth chart this year:

Then, you have DE Myles Garrett and DT Mason Graham running through drills:

And lastly, TE Harold Fannin getting some blocking work in:

7. Running Back Report: Cleveland said goodbye to RB Nick Chubb, and RB Quinshon Judkins is expected to handle a portion of the load this year. Here is a clip of Judkins showing off his speed:

In another clip, we see how the Browns have rookie RB Dylan Sampson going in motion, before handing off to Judkins. On Twitter, Jake Burns described it as, “Bunch Trips in 21 personnel, Sampson goes in Jet motion. It looks like a draw play from the offensive line upfront, with the left side tight end and slot crack blocking linebackers.” A degree of what is in store with Kevin Stefanski’s return to managing the offense?

8. The Dark Horse WR? Browns fans voted that the wide receiver room was the biggest question mark on offense heading into training camp. General manager Andrew Berry likes to try out one or two reclamation projects a year, and the player that seems to fit the bill for that this year is WR Dionate Johnson. He’s acknowledged his bad year and trying to get his NFL career back on track — could it be with Cleveland?

9. Up Next: Looking at the Browns’ offseason schedule, they will actually go back to one more round of OTAs next week from June 16-19. Training camp dates should be announced in the second half of June, with sessions taking place from late-July to August.