Pickett: Browns' QB competition not contentious

BEREA, Ohio (AP) — Kenny Pickett realizes that almost all the offseason attention devoted to the Cleveland Browns is on the quarterback competition.

Pickett wants to make one thing abundantly clear, though — even though it is a competition, things haven’t gotten heated inside the quarterback room.

“I think the outside world makes it a lot bigger than it is. Of course, we’re all competing, but you become friends with everybody,” Pickett said on Wednesday after the Browns completed their second day of organized team activities.

“I think it’s a great media headline, but when you get in the building in a quarterback room and at least all the ones I’ve been in, you really become friends with these guys, and we’re just pushing each other.”

Pickett and Joe Flacco got the majority of the snaps with the veterans. Third-round pick Dillon Gabriel got one series of 11-on-11 drills on the main field, while fifth-round selection Shedeur Sanders had none.

Gabriel and Sanders got most of their work with the other rookies on the adjacent field.

Even though he is 40 years old, Flacco is the slight favorite to be under center when the Browns host the Cincinnati Bengals on Sept. 7 in the season opener.

“It’s funny, it’s like every time I go out here in the offseason, I’ve done it a million times, but it’s like there’s a little piece of you that’s like, ‘all right, let’s see if I still know how to read it and let it go and do all those things.’ So it’s good to get back out there and start doing it again,” said Flacco, the AP Comeback Player of the Year in 2023, after he went 4-1 as a starter and led the Browns to the playoffs for only the third time since their return in 1999.

Even though Flacco said this is the first quarterback competition of this magnitude he has experienced since being a sophomore in high school in Audubon, New Jersey, he isn’t focused too much on it at this stage of the offseason.

“I’m just going out there and doing what I do, and everything else is kind of out of my control. So all I can do is go out there and play football and that’s what I’m doing,” Flacco said.

The Browns acquired Pickett in a trade with Philadelphia when the league year opened in March. Pickett started one game last season for the Super Bowl champion Eagles while backing up Jalen Hurts. He was 14-10 as a starter in two years with Pittsburgh after being the Steelers first-round pick in 2022.

Pickett admitted that there are more similarities between the Eagles’ and Browns’ offenses than most people realize. The biggest thing he has focused on is getting up to speed with the terminology.

“I think it has gone well. They’re doing a great job of getting everyone reps to get experience with the offense and get a feel for everybody,” he said.

Pickett and Flacco both have developed a good rapport with Jerry Jeudy. The sixth-year wide receiver had one of the day’s best catches on a deep route from Flacco on one of the first plays during 11-on-11 drills.

“It’s been good. I don’t think there were many dropped balls,” Jeudy said. “So quarterbacks were putting balls right on the money and receivers were making plays. We’re going to keep doing that.”

Gabriel had a pass tipped at the line of scrimmage and picked off by first-round pick Mason Graham. Both Gabriel and Sanders fared well in 7-on-7 drills against rookies.

Coach Kevin Stefanski said all of the rookies’ snaps remain valuable, whether they are on or off the field.

“They’re being graded on every play. And there’s a variety of things that they’re being graded on, but for the quarterback, decision-making, technique, accuracy, those type of things,” he said. “We love the opportunity being out here on the practice field and have two drills where we can maximize all the time that we’re out here.”

There were two notable absences at Wednesday’s voluntary practice. Defensive end Myles Garrett is in Japan and accompanied Olympic snowboard gold medalist Chloe Kim at the Crunchyroll Anime Awards. Stefanski said he didn’t know if Garrett would be back with the team before the mandatory minicamp begins on June 10.

Wide receiver Diontae Johnson, who signed with the team on May 5, might be the bigger no-show since the Browns are his fourth team in less than a year.

“I’m worried about day to day, but let me reiterate, this is a voluntary program across the NFL guys,″ Stefanski said. “That’s their right, whether they’re here or not. The guys that are here, we coach ’em up. The guys that aren’t here, that is totally their decision to make.”

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Cleveland Browns quarterback Joe Flacco (15) throws during an NFL football practice, Wednesday, May 28, 2025, in Berea, Ohio. (AP Photo/Phil Long)

Cleveland Browns quarterback Shedeur Sanders (12) twirls the ball during an NFL football practice, Wednesday, May 28, 2025, in Berea, Ohio. (AP Photo/Phil Long)

Cleveland Browns quarterback Kenny Pickett (8) throws during an NFL football practice, Wednesday, May 28, 2025, in Berea, Ohio. (AP Photo/Phil Long)

Cleveland Browns quarterback Joe Flacco (15) throws as Kenny Pickett watches during an NFL football practice, Wednesday, May 28, 2025, in Berea, Ohio. (AP Photo/Phil Long)

PITTSBURGH (AP) — The Pittsburgh Steelers could have outside linebacker T.J. Watt back for their “win or go home” showdown with Baltimore for the AFC North title on Sunday night.

Coach Mike Tomlin said Tuesday he's “more optimistic” than he has been that the perennial Pro Bowl edge rusher will be available after sitting out each of the past three games while recovering from surgery to repair a partially collapsed lung sustained following a dry needling treatment.

Tomlin added he'd like to see Watt practice fully at some point this week. Watt was a limited participant last week before being held out of Sunday's 13-6 loss to Cleveland, a setback that cost the Steelers (9-7) a chance to wrap up the division with a week to go.

Now, Pittsburgh either needs to win or tie the Ravens (8-8) on Sunday night to win the AFC North for the first time since 2020.

Tomlin doesn't think Watt's extended downtime will have a significant impact on the 31-year-old Watt's stamina, should he be cleared to play.

“I doubt that TJ is ever out of football shape or conditioning over the course of a 12-month calendar,” Tomlin said. “I just know how he lives his life and how he prepares and how thoughtful he is in terms of what he puts in his body and how we trains.”

While Watt's familiar No. 90 could return, massive tight end Darnell Washington is out indefinitely after having surgery on Monday for a broken arm suffered in the first half against the Browns. Tomlin did not rule out Washington's potential availability should Pittsburgh advance to the playoffs, though the Steelers would likely need to make a deep run to have any chance of seeing the uniquely talented 6-foot-7, 300-plus-pound Washington in the huddle.

Wide receiver Calvin Austin III (hamstring), veteran left guard Isaac Seumalo (triceps), cornerback Brandon Echols (groin) and cornerback James Pierre (calf) — all of whom sat out last week — could return against the Ravens.

The Steelers will need as many healthy bodies available as possible, particularly on offense, to avoid a stunning late collapse. Pittsburgh sputtered in Cleveland without suspended wide receiver DK Metcalf, who will also sit out this week as punishment for making contact with a fan in Detroit earlier this month.

Pittsburgh managed just 160 net yards passing against the Browns, a big chunk of it coming on a last-second drive that ended with Aaron Rodgers throwing incomplete in the end zone to wide receiver Marquez Valdes-Scantling on three consecutive plays.

Rodgers had perhaps his best game of the season in Pittsburgh's road win at Baltimore on Dec. 7, thanks in large part to a seven-catch, 148-yard performance from Metcalf. Downfield shots were nowhere to be found on a blustery day in Cleveland, where Rodgers' longest completion was a 29-yarder to tight end Pat Freiermuth.

While Tomlin allowed both teams will add a “wrinkle” or two in the rematch, the reality is scheme is unlikely to play a significant role in a series that has produced its fair share of memorable high-stakes meetings through the years.

The stakes should keep the Steelers from having a hangover after letting the lowly Browns jump to an early 10-point lead before holding on.

Asked if it was frustrating to lose to a team that came in with just three wins on the season with so much on the line, Tomlin shrugged.

“Man, there’s a lot of things that you could get frustrated about in our business,” he said. “I’ve learned to kind of always move forward. My windshield is much bigger than my rearview.”

Maybe, but there's a chance the game could also be the 264th and final regular-season game of quarterback Aaron Rodgers' Hall of Fame-caliber career. The 42-year-old four-time MVP said over the summer that his 21st season could be his last, though he also said last week he feels as if he's aging backward and has been relatively healthy save for a broken left wrist that forced him to sit out a loss to Chicago in late November.

Rodgers said on Sunday that he expects Pittsburgh to recover and beat the Ravens. That inherent confidence is one of the reasons the Steelers spent months courting him in free agency last spring.

“That’s one of the things that made him really attractive to us, that ‘can do’ attitude and the experience and resume that goes with it,” Tomlin said. “I don’t think it’s work for him. I think it is as natural as breathing. And so if he’s breathing, I expect to see that from him as we lean in on this game."

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Pittsburgh Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin speaks during a news conference after an NFL football game against the Cleveland Browns, Sunday, Dec. 28, 2025, in Cleveland. (AP Photo/David Richard)