Berea camp report: three quarterbacks, 18 defensive linemen and the math toward 53

The Browns held three practices this week and did not announce a starting quarterback, a starting center, a starting right tackle or a 53-man roster. That is normal for the second week of August. What follows is what was observable, in the order it happened.

Quarterbacks: still three, still unresolved

Shedeur Sanders took the first team period Wednesday. Dillon Gabriel took the first team period Thursday. On Friday the opening period was split, with Sanders working the first six snaps and Gabriel the next six, and Taylen Green ran the third unit all three days plus the majority of the scout-team work Thursday.

The Browns have not published a depth chart. Head coach Nick Mansour said Friday he does not intend to publish one this week.

“I’m not going to name one this week,” Mansour said. “That’s about what I still need to see and when I need to see it, and it isn’t about any of the three of them. Ask me again after Buffalo.”

None of the three has been good for a full practice.

Sanders threw two interceptions Wednesday in an 11-on-11 red-zone period and was the sharpest of the three in the same period Friday. Gabriel has been the most consistent snap to snap and has thrown the fewest balls past 20 yards.

Green has the largest arm and the most obvious rookie processing problems. He was reached in the pocket on three team-period snaps this week that would have been sacks under live tackling.

The pre-snap issues are the more useful thing to watch. In a two-minute period earlier this month, Sanders’ drive ended with three consecutive procedural penalties. There were two more this week, one delay of game Wednesday and one false start Friday, both with the first unit on the field.

Gabriel, asked Thursday about the split: “I’m really just focused on mastering my reps.” Asked whether he felt the split had been fair: “Never disrespected. I don’t take things personally.”

Green, on the same subject: “They have experience in the league and success at a high level. So, I’m just the young pup.”

Three quarterbacks on a 90-man roster is normal. Three quarterbacks on a 53-man roster is not, and most teams in this league carry two. The specific complication is that Green is a rookie who cannot be moved to the practice squad without clearing waivers first, and a 23-year-old who ran 4.36 will not clear.

The defensive line is the actual problem

There are 18 defensive linemen on the 90-man roster and 14 of them practiced Wednesday.

Maliek Collins, 31, is on the active physically-unable-to-perform list and has not taken a practice snap since last season.

Mason Graham, the 2025 first-round pick, was a non-participant Wednesday and limited Thursday and Friday. Mike Hall Jr. was limited Wednesday and Thursday and full Friday. Elijah Chatman and Sam Kamara were both out Wednesday.

This is the third time this month the group has been down four or more in a single session. On Aug. 5 there were six defensive linemen unavailable at once.

Jared Verse took first-team snaps in every team period across all three days, including both two-minute periods and both goal-line periods.

He is 25. He has been in this organization for ten weeks and has played 34 NFL games, with 124 tackles, 12 sacks and 22 tackles for loss. He was Defensive Rookie of the Year in 2024 and a Pro Bowler in both of his seasons.

The Browns traded Myles Garrett on June 1. Garrett had 23 sacks in 2025. That is the most any player has had in a season, and Verse has 12 across two of them.

Behind Verse the rotation this week was Alex Wright and Isaiah McGuire at the edges, with Julian Okwara and rookie Tyreak Sapp taking the third-unit work. Inside, with Graham limited, Kalia Davis and Travis Bell took the majority of the first-team interior snaps Wednesday. Neither is a starter on a team that has one.

Linebacker: Owusu-Koramoah out again

Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah was placed on reserve/PUP on May 8 and will not play this season. It is a neck injury and it is the second consecutive season he has lost. He was a second-round pick in 2021, he is entering his sixth year, and he has been in the facility every day of camp.

Carson Schwesinger wears the green dot and has worn it since he was a rookie. He was limited Wednesday and full Thursday and Friday.

He had 125 tackles in 14 games last season and he is 23. Quincy Williams, signed in March out of the Jets, has taken the every-down work next to him all week.

Behind those two the depth is Edefuan Ulofoshio, Easton Mascarenas-Arnold, Nathaniel Watson, Winston Reid and fifth-round rookie Justin Jefferson. Seven healthy linebackers, and one of them calls the defense.

Center: three men, no answer

Luke Wypler took the first-team snaps Wednesday. Elgton Jenkins took them Thursday. Parker Brailsford, the fifth-round rookie out of Alabama who missed time earlier this month, took the first period Friday and then the second unit for the rest of the day.

Wypler is 25 and in his fourth season. Brailsford is 22 and was the 146th pick. Jenkins is 30, in his eighth season, and can play either guard spot as well, which is why nothing here is settled: where Jenkins ends up determines who else plays.

Jenkins, Thursday: “It starts up front on the O-line and on the D-line.” Asked directly whether he expects to play center: “Wherever they put me. I’ve done both.”

Kingsley Eguakun has taken the third-unit center snaps. There are 17 offensive linemen on the roster and most teams keep nine.

Tackle: Iheanachor at both spots, Dawand Jones available

Max Iheanachor, the ninth overall pick, worked at right tackle Wednesday and Friday and at left tackle for two periods Thursday. The boards had him in the twenties in April, and there were more scouts and personnel people at Thursday’s practice than at either of the other two.

Dawand Jones has been a full participant all three days. That is worth stating plainly because he has missed 27 games in three seasons. Offensive line coach George Warhop said in July he was satisfied with Jones’ offseason and has not revised that.

Tytus Howard, 30, took the first-team left tackle snaps in all three practices. He has started all 93 games he has played, and last season he started 16 games across right tackle, left guard and right guard.

Austin Barber, the third-round rookie out of Florida, is the swing tackle and took second-unit snaps on both sides. KT Leveston and Tyre Phillips split the third unit.

Receiver: Tillman on the bubble

There are 10 healthy receivers on the roster. Jamari Thrash is on reserve/injured. Most teams keep five or six.

Cedric Tillman is 26, in his fourth season, and had 21 catches for 270 yards and two touchdowns in 13 games last year.

The Browns spent the 10th pick on KC Concepcion and the 39th on Denzel Boston. Isaiah Bond reported roughly 15 pounds heavier than last season and has taken slot work with the second unit every day this week.

Tillman took first-team snaps Wednesday and Friday and worked with the second and third units Thursday. He caught everything thrown to him Friday, including a back-shoulder ball in the red zone from Gabriel.

Jerry Jeudy took the first-team X snaps all three days. He has been available every practice this camp.

Participation log, Aug. 12-14

This is a beat log of three open practices, not a league document. The NFL’s official participation report and the Wednesday-Thursday-Friday game-status designations do not begin until Week 1. The Browns do not disclose the nature of camp injuries and this log does not guess at them; where a cause is listed, the team has stated it. Joe Royer was excused for a personal matter earlier this month and has practiced fully since.

The math toward 53

The roster sits at 90. It has to be at 53 by 4 p.m. on the league’s cutdown Tuesday at the start of September. That is 37 releases in one afternoon, and this staff will make all of them, because there is no general manager other than the head coach.

The mechanics matter more than the guesses. Players with fewer than four accrued seasons are subject to waivers and can be claimed by any team, in reverse order of last year’s standings, which means Cleveland claims early.

Players with four or more accrued seasons are vested veterans. They become free agents immediately rather than passing through waivers.

The waiver period closes the day after cuts. The 16-man practice squad is then built overnight, largely out of other teams’ releases, and a player can be released Tuesday, go unclaimed Wednesday and be back in Berea Thursday at a fraction of the money.

Some of this roster’s arithmetic is already visible. There are three punters: Corey Bojorquez, Nik Constantinou and rookie Wes Pahl. There will be one.

There are seven tight ends behind a clear starter in Harold Fannin Jr. There are 20 defensive backs.

There are also six duplicated jersey numbers on the roster right now, including two men wearing 53 and two wearing 6.

Coming up

The Browns hold joint practices with Buffalo in Berea next week, before the Aug. 22 game at home, which kicks at 1 p.m. New England follows on Aug. 27 at 8 p.m. on Prime Video.

The joint work is where a lot of these roster questions get answered. It is the only practice all month against players who are not required to be polite about it.

Week 1 is Sept. 13 at Jacksonville, 29 days from Friday.