General
The Cleveland Browns’ Kevin Stefanski noted something during his meeting with reporters at the annual AFC coaches breakfast at the NFL league meetings on Monday in Palm Beach, Florida.
“A lot of questions about the quarterback position,” Stefanski observed.
And most of the questions were about quarterbacks who aren’t on Cleveland’s roster, including two SEC stars available in next month’s draft – Alabama’s Jalen Milroe and Ole Miss’ Jaxson Dart.
The reason? In Stefanki’s five seasons as the Browns coach, Cleveland has had 11 starting quarterbacks, and that list is going to grow in 2025.
Cleveland was supposed to have solved its QB questions in 2022, when Deshaun Watson signed a five-year, $230 million, fully guaranteed contract after the Browns obtained him in a trade with the Houston Texans. A suspension and injuries have limited Watson to playing in 19 of the Browns’ 51 games in his three seasons with the team.
Earlier this year, the Browns announced Watson “likely will miss significant time during the 2025 season.” Watson went out for 2024 when he ruptured his right Achilles tendon on Oct. 20. Cleveland reported Watson had ruptured the tendon again and had undergone a second surgery.
The only other quarterback on the Browns’ roster is Kenny Pickett, obtained in a trade this month from the Philadelphia Eagles. The former Pittsburgh Steelers starter served as season as Jalen Hurts’ backup as the Eagles won the NFL championship for 2024.
“Kenny Pickett’s a guy that I believe in, that we believe in,” Stefanski said, “so we’ll see how it all shakes out.”
With the No. 2 pick in the first round of the NFL Draft on April 24, Cleveland is squarely in the quarterback market.
“I like a lot of guys in this class, not just the quarterback position,” Stefanski said. “… From where I sit, I’m excited that we’re going to get a really, really good football player on this roster. That’s for us to talk through in terms of which player that is, or if it’s a trade back. You’re moving back, you’re still getting players you like and you’re picking up players. So I think everything is available to us.”
Neither of the SEC quarterbacks that Stefanski talked about on Monday will be the No. 2 pick. But that doesn’t mean Milroe or Dart won’t end up with Cleveland, which is in position to deal in the 2025 draft with 10 picks.
Milroe’s 32 rushing touchdowns over the past two seasons for Alabama and the quarterback’s fast 40 time at the Crimson Tide’s pro day have seemed to overshadow his passing ability in evaluations.
“I don’t see him just as a runner,” Stefanski said. “That’s certainly an element of his game. God’s blessed him with the ability to make plays with his feet when necessary. But he’s made plenty of throws in his career, so again, another really impressive young man, having gotten down there, spending some time with him and his family. I think he’s, again, done a really nice job just throughout this process.”
Stefanski was asked if Milroe had shown offseason improvement during his passing exhibition at Alabama’s pro day.
“I don’t know if I’d say improvement,” Stefanski said. “I mean, obviously, I know Senior Bowlers, you get in the seven-on-seven or that type of drill, so this is on air. But, yeah, I think you’re always looking at mechanics and how you can help a player. But I think the biggest thing is it’s such a body of work, it’s such an all-encompassing thing when you’re talking about evaluating these guys, so you don’t want to say, hey, he had a great throwing session that one day, that shoots him up your draft board. You take all of this into account.”
Cleveland is considered to have inside information on Milroe. The Browns’ offensive coordinator, Tommy Rees, was Alabama’s offensive coordinator in 2023.
“He knows a lot of these college quarterbacks,” Stefanski said, “when you’re in the game and you’re in recruiting and that type of thing, so has a very interesting perspective on all these players. He’s played the position at a high level. So certainly leaning on him, on what he believes in both in the evaluation on the tape and the evaluation of the player when you meet with them and the evaluation of the player when you’re seeing them throw live. …
“I mean, obviously, when you’ve coached a player, all those Alabama players, you lean in and you find out everything there is to know about the players. I mean that’s obvious. Jalen’s a young man that played really well for Tommy. They won a lot of football games. He’s still growing as a football player, too. It’s kind of one of the things we talked about yesterday is nobody’s a finished product when you come into the NFL, so excited about all these guys in terms of what type of jump they could have in their career.”
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Dart enters the NFL after throwing for 10,617 yards and 72 touchdowns in three seasons at Ole Miss.
“A very impressive young man,” Stefanski said. “Has been coached really well. You know Joe Judge is down there as his quarterback coach, and Joe’s a former NFL head coach, former special-teams coach, offensive, defensive. Joe kind of knows the game, so you can tell that he’s been really well-coached and brought along the right way in this game, so impressive off the field and then did a nice job on the field as well.”
Stefanski said the type of offense that Dart operated at Ole Miss and what he’ll be called upon to do in the NFL isn’t a big deal in the evaluation process.
“I think that’s probably overstated,” Stefanski said. “I don’t know that there’s a huge difference in what colleges are doing and what people are doing in the pros these days. There’s certainly elements that you’re going to ask a quarterback to do differently regardless of what school he came from, so I don’t think that there’s a concern there.”
A quarterback who could go No. 2 to the Browns is Colorado’s Shedeur Sanders. Miami (Fla.) quarterback Cam Ward is the betting favorite to go to the Tennessee Titans with the No. 1 pick, leaving Sanders as a No. 2 option after throwing for 4,134 yards and 37 touchdowns for Colorado in 2024.
“He’s an extremely talented football player,” Stefanski said of Sanders. “Again getting to know the kid — you watch the tape, and I think the important part as an evaluator is you want to talk to the player about plays and how he plays, and I think he sees the game really, really well. Has been raised the right. I think they’ve done an outstanding job bringing him along in terms of understanding football. But he’s a very, very talented young man, but off the field is where I’m probably most impressed.”
Despite the rookie talk, Stefanski didn’t rule out Pickett being the Browns’ starting quarterback in 2025.
“Excited for Kenny and the opportunity to see what he’s capable of,” Stefanski said. “And he’s got the right makeup for it. …
“I think he’s a very intelligent, accurate passer, but he’s somebody that you’ve seen it from him. He’s made plays in games. He’s won football games with great decision-making. He’s a plus-athlete. I’ve seen him make all the throws. So I really think he fits in whatever you’re at whenever you’re planning on doing.”
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Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on X at @AMarkG1.
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