Shedeur Sanders: Everything you need to know

Coach Todd Monken hopes to identify the Browns' starting QB by the end of the team's minicamp June 9-11, according to Mary Kay Cabot of the Cleveland Plain Dealer. Sanders and Deshaun Watson are considered the top two candidates to land the job. Per Cabot, Watson reportedly emerged from the team's voluntary minicamp last week with an edge over Sanders, which may give the veteran signal caller the inside track to the assignment, but Sanders does have time to make up ground before Monken makes the call. Also in Cleveland's QB mix are 2025 third-rounder Dillon Gabriel and 2026 sixth-rounder Taylen Green, but Cabot suggests that they will largely be vying for the developmental third spot on the roster. In any case, this is a job competition worth closely monitoring in the coming weeks/months, with the Browns slated to approach the coming campaign with an intriguing group of pass-catchers that includes returning WRs Jerry Jeudy, Cedric Tillman and Isaiah Bond, along with TE Harold Fannin, as well as a pair of talented rookie wideouts in KC Concepcion and Denzel Boston.

Sanders started Cleveland's first 11-on-11 team period at voluntary minicamp Tuesday, though he rotated reps with fellow QBs Deshaun Watson and Dillon Gabriel, Kelsey Russo of the Browns' official site reports. Sanders is firmly in the mix in Cleveland's quarterback competition, though there isn't necessarily much information to glean from the chronology of team drills at this stage in the offseason. That said, new head coach Todd Monken did note that "[t]he plan was to have [Sanders] have a few more reps, but to let Deshaun [Watson] and [Sanders] both have reps with the ones." Monken's comments essentially confirm assumptions that Sanders is entering spring workouts as the favorite for No. 1 QB reps over Watson, while Gabriel ranks closer to No. 3 on the depth chart, though things stand to be fluid given the ongoing nature of this positional competition. Across eight regular-season appearances (seven starts) as a rookie, Sanders completed 57 percent of his pass attempts for 1,400 yards, seven TDs and 10 INTs.

Coach Todd Monken noted Tuesday that QB reps during the Browns' offseason workout program competition won't necessarily be evenly divided between Sanders, Deshaun Watson and Dillon Gabriel, Daniel Oyefusi of ESPN reports. On that subject, Monken said, "I wouldn't say they're going to be evenly dispersed, but we'll definitely disperse them to give ourselves a chance to at least evaluate who we have on the roster, whoever that might be as we go through the offseason." When asked how he'll decide who takes the first starting reps once the team's on-field work commences, Monken indicated that it would be based on "what we've seen in the past and where the year ended last year." With that in mind, Zac Jackson of The Athletic suggests that Sanders seems most likely to work as the No. 1 QB in early spring workouts, but at this stage nothing is set in stone, with Watson -- who missed last season due to an Achilles' injury -- now healthy, per Oyefusi, and thus expected to compete with Sanders and Gabriel for the starting job.