The latest Cleveland Browns news and notes from around the NFL in the Saturday Dawg Chow.
The Cleveland Browns opened rookie minicamp on Friday at team headquarters in Berea.
It is the club’s first opportunity to work with the 2025 draft class and undrafted free agents, and over the next three days, there will be plenty of focus on rookie quarterbacks Dillon Gabriel and Shedeur Sanders.
Who is getting the most practice reps? Who looks better than throwing to receivers in shorts and T-shirts with no defense? Who will separate themselves and have the greater social media presence?
Those answers and more will start to reveal themselves this weekend!
While we wait to see what today brings, let’s kick off the weekend with the latest edition of the Saturday Dawg Chow!
Dawgs By Nature:
- Browns get 2 of their 7 NFL draft picks signed with “fully guaranteed” once again important (Jared Mueller) – The Cleveland Browns signed draft picks Carson Schwesinger and Dylan Sampson on Friday.
- Nick Chubb update: Browns GM Andrew Berry talks about the fan favorite’s future (Jared Mueller) – The Cleveland Browns roster is close to set as Nick Chubb lingers in NFL free agency.
- Browns have 56 players at rookie minicamp. Which of the 26 tryouts will win a roster spot? (Chris Pokorny) – A category breakdown of who is participating in rookie minicamp this weekend with the Cleveland Browns.
- Browns roster: Team makes 13 UDFA signings, 27 tryout players as rookie minicamp starts (Jared Mueller) – Donovan McMillon among the UDFAs joining Mason Graham, Shedeur Sanders, and the NFL draft class.
- Browns rookie minicamp: Dillon Gabriel, Shedeur Sanders throwing passes (Jared Mueller) – The 2 drafted quarterbacks alternated snaps in order in which they were drafted.
- 5 things to watch at Browns rookie minicamp (Matt Wilson) – Diving into five things to keep an eye on this weekend as the Cleveland Browns hold their rookie minicamp.
- Brandon Aiyuk rumor: Niners WR surprisingly available in trade still despite contract (Jared Mueller) – The Cleveland Browns seem like an unlikely landing spot, but Brandon Aiyuk still being on the market is noteworthy.
Cleveland Browns:
- Browns coach Kevin Stefanski talks rookie quarterbacks Dillon Gabriel, Shedeur Sanders (Beacon Journal) – The first snap of the first team period of the 2025 Cleveland Browns draft class’ first practice in the NFL went to the first quarterback drafted by the team two weeks earlier. That would be third-round pick Dillon Gabriel.
- The outlook for Browns LB Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah, and how 2nd-round LB Carson Schwesinger factors in (cleveland.com) – The sight of Pro Bowl linebacker Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah walking into the CrossCountry Mortgage Campus in great spirits on April 22, the first day of the Browns offseason program, lifted the entire organization and provided hope for his return to the field. But the Browns quickly pumped the brakes on expectations.
- Stefanski: Browns’ QB evaluation will be ‘all-encompassing’ (ESPN) – All eyes have been on Shedeur Sanders since the Cleveland Browns selected him in the fifth round of the 2025 NFL draft last month, ending a shocking slide into Day 3 for the former Colorado star quarterback. But when the Browns broke the huddle for the first snap of team drills in rookie minicamp Friday, it was third-round pick Dillon Gabriel — not Sanders — who took the first half-dozen snaps. Browns coach Kevin Stefanski, though, downplayed it, saying the quarterback competition in Cleveland will be an “all-encompassing evaluation” over the next few months.
- Former coaches describe Harold Fannin Jr. as big-time, versatile athlete who soaks up information like a sponge (Browns Zone) – Harold Fannin Jr. did a little bit of everything at Canton McKinley High School but made a name for himself as an All-Ohio safety. When the coaches at Bowling Green State University saw the film, they immediately envisioned a switch to tight end, the cornerstone of then-coach Scot Loeffler’s offense.
NFL:
- 2025 NFL draft: Best rookie team fits, perfect landing spots (ESPN) – The 2025 NFL draft provided plenty of strong prospect-team matches across the 257 picks. But which players are best set up for success?
- The big winner of the George Pickens trade is Dak Prescott (The Ringer) – The Dallas Cowboys landed the former Pittsburgh Steelers receiver on Wednesday, and with him in the fold, Dallas is finally building a real, modern NFL offense.
- Meet the farming, ass-kicking O-lineman the Seahawks desperately needed (The Athletic) – About 15 miles east of the Missouri River and 15 miles south of the North Dakota state line sits a town of fewer than 100 people. Mound City, S.D., is home to very little — a post office, a church, a bar and a county courthouse smaller than most of the barns in the area. It’s also home to a row crop farm that’s been in the same family for three generations, a place that’s been kept afloat the last several years partly by the hands of one of football’s most talented offensive linemen.