Browns QB competition finds 'forever home' on social media, even during offseason break

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BEREA — Joe Flacco remembers what social media was like when he arrived in Baltimore as the Ravens' first-round pick in 2008.
"I think Twitter started right around '07, '08," Flacco said during Browns minicamp on June 11. "I came in '08. I can remember the first time I walked into the cafeteria in Baltimore and somebody was like, 'Hey, you mind if we tweet this?' And nobody knew what that meant."
Flacco returned to Cleveland in April, at which time everyone knew about Twitter, only now, it's called X. Not only is the social media platform ubiquitous to everyone inside the Browns facility, it and others like it are ubiquitous to everyone outside of the facility as well.
Although not everyone uses X or Instagram or whatever, enough do that it can appear to have an impact on the lens through which progress is assessed. Browns rookie quarterback Dillon Gabriel called it the "Amazon lifestyle" or a "microwave mentality," and fellow rookie quarterback Shedeur Sanders spoke of a "mindset" that needs to be adjust to "understand the situation."
All of it, however, centers around how the Browns' quarterback competition involving Flacco, Gabriel, Sanders and Kenny Pickett is being framed outside the organization.
'Yeah, I think probably the biggest difference nowadays is social media, I would expect," Browns coach Kevin Stefanski said during minicamp June 11. "Listen, the news cycle is 365 days a year and there's a lot of content and there's a lot of hours to fill, as you guys all well know. So, and also we understand how popular our sport is, how interested our fans are in our sport. So, we embrace that. We like that part.
"Having said that, once we get inside the building, we really do focus on where our feet are. We focus that we're here. We focus on what we have in front of us. And I think all of our players have done a great job of understanding that.'
That includes the player whose presence in the competition has generated the most social media impressions of any of them. Sanders arrived in Cleveland with millions of social media followers, which translates into a rather large group of supporters interested in his daily affairs, on and off the field.
Many of those followers are the same ones who thought before the 2025 NFL Draft Sanders would be a top-five pick, and claimed various conspiracies were behind his fall to the fifth round, where the Browns selected him. Now that he's with a team, they have made it clear of their disapproval over any news not definitively calling him the future starter.
Sanders, while not directly addressing his social media followers, has been much more in the moment when he's been asked about anything down the road.
"My goal is to be the best teammate and to be as positive as I can be," Sanders said at minicamp June 10. "So in every aspect, I view things as I got time. I got time to be able to grow and mature and be able to understand the ins and outs of the defenses and be able to get the good insight from the vets in the room.
"So I look at it as a plus. I got time to actually be able to really have a great understanding, and whenever it's time for me to play, then it's time for me to play. But I'm not looking too far in the future about all that."
The reality of the Browns' quarterback situation is that whoever does start the regular-season opener against the Cincinnati Bengals may not be the starter when the regular season ends against the Bengals in Cincinnati. There may even be more than two starters before the season comes to an end, if the recent past predicts anything about the future.
For now, the quarterback situation would best be viewed not as a four-for-one-spot fight, but as two separate two-man competitions, with Flacco and Pickett in one and the two rookies in the other. Everything that has transpired to this point with regards to that competition validates this may be the best way to look at things, even as everyone involved says to not look at much of anything.
"We're so far away from that type of thought process," Stefanski said. "Honestly, we're in our installation phase. It's the off season, it's OTAs, so we're going to keep the focus there. Once you get into training camp, of course you're getting ready to play games and ultimately getting ready for playing the season. But right now that's not our focus.'
The Browns could control the environment much more during the offseason program, in part because so much of it was closed off from prying eyes. They only allowed the media to watch two OTAs and three minicamp practices, and the fans weren't allowed in for anything.
Training camp will be different. All of the camp practices will be open to the media, including three total joint practices at the Carolina Panthers and Philadelphia Eagles, and fans will be able to watch them over a certain number of practices in Berea, as well as all three preseason games.
Until then, however, the battle for the quarterback job will continue to be waged daily. Only it won't happen in the meeting rooms or practice fields, but in various corners of social media.
It's a far cry from Flacco's rookie year in Baltimore.
"The difference now is everybody's getting their stuff from there and it's treated a little bit more seriously because that is the main news source," Flacco said. "But you still have the same thing you always had, which is a million different opinions. So it kind of blends your actual news source with a bunch of other stuff.
"And now I think we live in this world where just like everything you see on there, there's a good portion of people that are taking whatever you see on there very seriously. … I won't even download it on my phone just because I know it's a trap to just get sucked in."
Chris Easterling can be reached at [e-mail]. Read more about the Browns at www.beaconjournal.com/sports/browns. Follow him on X at @ceasterlingABJ
This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Social media gives offseason theater for Browns QB battle to be waged