With the start of rookie minicamp also comes the conversations centered around the quarterback position. He joins a quarterback room that consists of Joe Flacco, Kenny Pickett, Deshaun Watson and third-round draft pick Dillon Gabriel. Sanders took the field with Gabriel, and the two went through drills together in the first two days of camp. While much of the competition will not start until OTAs, Sanders recognizes that he is now a part of a four-man quarterback competition.
However, he holds the mindset of proving himself right.
“In life and everything is just me versus me,” Sanders said. “I can’t control any other decision besides that, so I just try to be my best self.”
He’s also balancing the notion getting acclimated in his first few days with the Browns, while also knowing there is an underlying competition he is actively apart of. In order to do so, Sanders said he’s sticking to the mentality of taking it day by day.
“I just find something I want to perfect, and just perfect it to the best of my abilities,” Sanders said. “And that’s all I really focus on, being here, just being a leader, being a great teammate. Doing what I need to do, whenever it is, so I’m just thankful for opportunity. Things could have been a lot worse, but I’m here smiling in front of you all at this facility right now.”
Throughout the first two days of rookie minicamp, both Sanders and Gabriel have taken reps in all the periods. They alternated throws during individual periods and switched off between groups during the team drills. Head coach Kevin Stefanski said the plan throughout minicamp was to split the reps between the two of them. They added competitive periods into the script for rookie minicamp to get Sanders and Gabriel as many reps as they could.
As the competition continues throughout the summer, Stefanski said they will use not only the evaluations from minicamp in the process, but also the evaluations throughout the remainder of the offseason.
“You may get the first rep of practice with the ones, but then the next period you may get the second group. So, we vary it throughout. We’re focused more on the totality of this competition,” Stefanski said. “I told the players last night, we tell them this – we’re evaluating everything they do out on the field, in the meeting room, in the weight room. We want to see how they work. So, this is a total evaluation. It’s not just about one rep at rookie minicamp or one rep in an OTA. It’s really all about the body of work.”
