Quarterback Kenny Pickett operated the first-team offense in the Browns’ controlled team scrimmage and 11-on-11 work as training camp started this week.

Joe Flacco did not take snaps in the full team work with rookie Dillon Gabriel lined up at quarterback with the second team and Shedeur Sanders sliding in behind him for third-team reps. Deshaun Watson began training camp on the physically unable to perform list and is not participating in on-field work.

That only mildly narrows the options for Browns head coach Kevin Stefanski, who said he’ll take all 46 days from the start of training camp to the Sept. 7 regular-season opener to make his call on the QB1 if necessary.

“I have a plan that’s in pencil, and we have to take in information every single day, take in how guys are handling certain situations, and then adjust from there. But we’ll get to those types of decisions later on,” Stefanski said. “I think the big thing for me is putting our guys in a position where we can evaluate them. I think they did a great job in the spring. All four of those guys, I will continue to put them in some situations, but ultimately, we’d love to make decisions sooner than later.”

Flacco, in his 18th NFL season, knows Stefanski’s offense from his 2023 run with the Browns. And he knows how to pace himself as a professional through the dog days of camp.

For that reason, he’ll be in a rotation for reps, which gives the Browns more exposure to the three contenders for playing time who are largely new to the franchise. All three were acquired in the offseason. Pickett, landed by Cleveland in a trade with the Eagles, is a relatively known commodity from his time with the division-rival Pittsburgh Steelers. Gabriel, drafted in the third round after a stellar 13-1 season at Oregon in 2024, and former Colorado star Sanders (fifth-round pick) are getting up to speed as quickly as possible.

The charge to get the QB position fixed comes straight from the top. Franchise owner Jimmy Haslam was blunt and direct in assessing the Browns “thought we had the quarterback, we didn’t” in retrospect reviewing the Watson deal with the Houston Texans. Watson is recovering from a season-ending Achilles that he reinjured in January and might not play in 2025.

Re-enter Flacco, who signed after spending last season with the Indianapolis Colts and is expected to be the starter in Week 1.

Now in his second tour with the franchise, he said he understands the long view of the position will tell a different story for the Browns, but he is spending July and August dialed in only on what he can control.

“You know, it’s tough to have expectations,” Flacco said. “I think there’s been some communication between probably all the quarterbacks and Kevin. So, yeah, I guess I know a little bit what to expect, at least for the next week. But you can’t ask me. It’s hard for me to tell what it’s going to look like, you know, two, three weeks from now.”

Depending on the final makeup of the 53-man roster at the end of preseason, Browns general manager Andrew Berry said he wouldn’t rule out carrying all four quarterbacks rather than making a trade or hoping they go unclaimed on the practice squad.

He said if you consider the motive for assigning players to the final handful of roster spots, with the focus on development, why couldn’t those players be quarterbacks?

“I also think with the roster flexibility nowadays, especially with the elevations that you’re able to have on the practice squad, there’s just more flexibility in terms of how to build your 48-man game-day roster where it’s maybe not as quite as restrictive as in the past,” Berry said. “If there are four that are 53-man worthy and we think it makes the most sense for us to keep, then we will.”

–Field Level Media

Buffalo Bills running back James Cook can carry the “check, please” approach through training camp because of his confidence level a big payday is coming soon.

“I mean, however it happens, it’s going to get done. Wherever it happens at,” Cook said Thursday after participating in the first two days of workouts, opting not to hold out while working toward a contract extension.

“We have talks. … I mean, I deserve what I want, I need and it’s going to eventually happen,” Cook said.

Entering the final year of his contract, the 25-year-old Cook set a franchise record for rushing touchdowns in a single season with 16 in 2024. He has 2,638 rushing yards since the Bills drafted him in 2022.

General manager Brandon Beane said the Bills want to be a team that drafts, develops and rewards homegrown talent. But the financial factor is ever-present.

“Sometimes you can’t get on the same page or sometimes you’re trying to fit it in,” Beane said. “There’s times guys have left here that we really wanted. We just couldn’t make it work. But I can tell you, I’m hopeful, when we’re sitting here at next year’s training camp that James Cook is out there practicing and still representing the red, white and blue.”

Cook said he owes only himself, family and teammates. But he reported and is participating in camp out of that obligation and to remind teammates he is ready to go.

“It’s my job,” Cook said. “I got to participate so I won’t get fined and just come out here and just show them that I’m ready to go and earn what I got to go get.”

Cook would be subject to daily fines for not reporting because he’s under contract. He said “I like my money” when asked if the fines were a holdout deterrent.

Asked again Thursday about his Instagram live post underscoring his reference to a price tag of “15 mill (per) year,” Cook said he had no regrets about pinning that figure on social media.

“James is a competitive dude. He’s a stud. He is a great teammate. He wants to be here,” Beane said. “James fits Buffalo. But sometimes you can’t get on the same page.”

–Field Level Media

The San Francisco 49ers signed wide receiver Quintez Cephus to a one-year deal on Thursday and waived running back Israel Abanikanda.

Cephus, 27, was a fifth-round pick by Detroit in the 2020 NFL Draft and last appeared in a game with the Lions in 2022. The league suspended him for the 2023 season for betting on NFL games.

Cephus caught 37 passes for 568 yards and four touchdowns in 22 games (six starts) for Detroit from 2020-22. After being reinstated by the league in April 2024, he spent time with the Buffalo Bills, Houston Texans and Los Angeles Rams.

The 49ers needed another wideout after Jacob Cowing sustained a hamstring injury in Wednesday’s practice.

Abanikanda, 22, was a fifth-round pick by the New York Jets in 2023. He rushed 22 times for 70 yards and caught seven passes for 43 yards in six games with the Jets in 2023. The 49ers claimed him off waivers in December 2024.

–Field Level Media

Artie Burns is done for the season one practice into his tenure with the Miami Dolphins.

Burns, 30, left Wednesday’s practice on crutches with a knee injury suffered in individual drills. Multiple outlets reported Thursday that Burns has a torn ACL.

He signed a one-year deal with the Dolphins in the offseason and Miami is thin at cornerback without him. The Dolphins traded Jalen Ramsey to the Pittsburgh Steelers and could have multiple undrafted free agents in the starting three at corner alongside Cam Smith. Storm Duck, Kader Kohou and Ethan Bonner — all undrafted — are competing with rookie fifth-rounder Jason Marshall Jr., undrafted free agent rookies BJ Adams and Ethan Robinson.

To replace Burns on the roster, Miami brought back 2018 sixth-round pick Cornell Armstrong, 29. He spent one season with the Dolphins and was primarily a special teams player in stints with the Raiders, Texans and Falcons.

A first-round pick of the Steelers in 2016, Burns played the past three seasons with the Seattle Seahawks but played only four games and spent most of the season on injured reserve in 2024 due to a toe injury.

Burns spent his first four years in the NFL with Pittsburgh and played the 2021 season with the Chicago Bears. He signed with Chicago in 2020, but missed the season after tearing his ACL in August.

–Field Level Media

Giants wide receiver Malik Nabers was kept in the loop about the team’s offseason moves and execution, from New York’s pursuit of quarterback Russell Wilson and other veterans to additions in the draft.

Head coach Brian Daboll described the conversation as more informational than consultation — even if Nabers believed he was being asked for approval.

Whichever the case, it was all part of building a relationship with the standout second-year receiver.

“I’d say we have a good relationship,” Daboll said Thursday, recalling conversations that went back to Nabers’ first training camp in 2024. “He’s got good vision on the field — smart player. I’m close with him. I think those relationships with all your players are important and particularly ones that play like Malik, but (Darius) Slayton, I’ve talked to a bunch, Wan’Dale (Robinson), Theo Johnson, GVR (Greg Van Roten), (Brian) Burns, Dexter (Lawrence) — I mean a lot of guys.”

Nabers, who rooted for the Seahawks as a kid and said he’s been a Wilson fan since Seattle won Super Bowl XLVIII, appreciated being in the loop on the Giants’ vision. He said he shared a view from the locker room with the coach.

“I think Dabs did a great job of asking me questions about making moves, and me and him were in contact about moves to be made,” Nabers said. “That was a great job of him reaching out to the players about things that we were missing that we want. I think they did an amazing job of putting a lot of great leaders in this building.”

Nabers and Daboll also likely have discussed the receiver’s ongoing toe ailment.

Nabers said he might eventually need to consider surgery on his injured toe, which became a complex management issue last season. He made multiple acrobatic plays in Wednesday’s practice and Daboll said the entire team — meaning anyone not on a restricted list — would be on the field Thursday.

Daboll would not share his thoughts on Nabers’ revelation about the operating table and said the eye test tells him Nabers is going to be an impact player for the Giants again this season.

“I’m not going to get into injuries and conversations of that. He’s working through it and like I said, I think you all saw, he looks pretty good out there,” Daboll said.

The injury dates to his college career at LSU, Nabers said, but surgery has only been mentioned more recently.

“That’s not up in the air but decisions will be made when the time is made,” Nabers said. “There’s been talk about it. It just never really came to a complete thought in mind for me to do it, but I’ve been managing it well, been running around feeling pretty good. Everything has been going good with the rehab, so my toe is feeling better. I’m just happy to be out there with my guys now.”

Daboll said the Giants remain flexible with Nabers’ practice plan. It will be important for him to gain reps and establish timing and trust with the team’s three new quarterbacks: Wilson, Jameis Winston and Jaxson Dart. He seemed to be clicking with Wilson and Dart on Wednesday. If his practice schedule is altered, Daboll sounds willing to make it work.

“We’ll see as it goes. We’ll go through practice, see how it feels,” Daboll said. “If we have to pull back, we’ll pull back some. It looked pretty good yesterday.”

Nabers, who turns 22 on Monday, set an NFL rookie record with 109 catches last season, which also was a franchise mark with the Giants.

Nabers totaled 1,204 yards and seven touchdowns in 15 games (13 starts) en route to being named to the Pro Bowl.

–Field Level Media

The Tennessee Titans signed veteran outside linebacker Jihad Ward on Thursday.

Ward, 31, played in all 17 games (two starts) for the Minnesota Vikings last season.

He has 19 sacks, 168 tackles and five fumble recoveries in 119 career games (37 starts) with six NFL teams.

The then-Oakland Raiders picked Ward in the second round (44th overall) of the 2016 NFL Draft.

The Titans waived defensive lineman Keondre Coburn, 25, to make room on the training camp roster.

–Field Level Media

New York Jets quarterback Justin Fields is day-to-day after sustaining a dislocated toe on his right foot Thursday.

Despite the initial alarm raised when Fields left the morning practice on a cart, the team said he “avoided serious injury and significant missed time.”

Fields went to the turf while moving to his right and throwing a pass in the direction of tight end Jeremy Ruckert that fell incomplete. He stayed on the ground, shifted to a seated, upright position and talked with trainers before moving to the injury tent.

Head coach Aaron Glenn later told reporters that he believes another player stepped on Fields’ toe.

The training camp practice resumed with veteran backup Tyrod Taylor working with the first team.

“Listen, we have an outstanding backup in Tyrod,” Glenn said. “He’s been in this league for around 14 years. The leadership he brings, we’re all good.”

Fields, a former first-round pick of the Chicago Bears, signed a two-year, $40 million contract in March and the Jets are counting on him to replace Aaron Rodgers.

Rodgers, who suffered a season-ending injury on his first series with the Jets in 2023, was released at the end of the 2024 season and signed with Fields’ previous team, the Pittsburgh Steelers. Those teams kick off the regular season against each other on Sept. 7.

Fields, 26, had shoulder (AC joint) and groin injuries during his stint in Chicago.

Fields started the first six games of the season for Pittsburgh in 2024 and went 4-2 with a pair of three-point defeats (20-17 vs. Dallas, 27-24 at Indianapolis) before he was replaced as the No. 1 QB by Russell Wilson.

–Field Level Media