The Cleveland Browns' quarterback room is facing a major philosophical shift. New Head Coach Todd Monken is scrapping the old playbook. His plan for distributing reps is a complete reversal of former coach Kevin Stefanski's strategy.

An X post by Spencer German, the host of Locked on Browns, reported that he is not offering “an even split of reps for all.”  And that they can even change daily. Monken admitted that he came to this conclusion based on previous performances.

“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 off-season... Basically, what we've seen in the past and where the year ended last year.”

This is a complete turnaround from former head coach Kevin Stefanski’s practice setup. He tried to accommodate all four quarterbacks, giving them as many reps as possible. In the 2025 pre-season, we saw Shedeur Sanders, who started at the bottom of the pecking order, play snaps and score touchdowns! That's where Monken is switching things up.

And if we go by last year's data, it could be Shedeur who takes the top spot. On paper, he had the most passing yards (1400), most scrimmage touchdowns (8), and even racked up 300+ yard games. However, nothing is set in stone.

“I just see it as in a given day and it'll be daily in terms of who gets what reps and when. We certainly want to allocate our reps to the players we feel like are going to give us the best chance to win,” he said on Tuesday, at this year’s NFL owners meeting.

Monken's plan to identify his top quarterback is now in motion.

But What Is Monken Working With at Present?

Monken mentioned an “open competition” among the quarterbacks to gauge who should start in Week 1, 2026. In his February press conference, he stated that there wasn’t “enough on film over the last couple years” to simply pick the QB1. 

Since 2020, the franchise has gone through 13 quarterbacks without finding anyone who could improve its standing. At present, the Browns’ quarterback roster consists of Shedeur Sanders, Dillon Gabriel, and Deshaun Watson.  

The Browns will kickstart their off-season programs with a voluntary workout program on April 7 and begin working with their quarterbacks. Monken has been paying close attention to his QBs and noted that Gabriel has been absent this offseason. He praised Sanders, who “recognizes where he's at” and even chatted with Watson. 

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Written by

Akanksha Biradar

Edited by

Siddharth Shirwadkar