Cleveland Browns 2025 training camp preview | QB battle, run game top offensive questions

You've got questions about the Browns and the 2025 season? Of course you do.

Doesn't everybody?

It's getting close to the time for the Browns to start providing some of those answers. It starts with training camp, which opens up with the first full-squad practice on July 23.

So what are some of those big questions? Let's focus on the offensive ones for now; the defense will be addressed soon enough.

Here are the five big offensive questions facing the Browns entering training camp. You're never going to guess what's the first question.

Who will be the Cleveland Browns starting QB?

To answer a question with a question: Is there anyone who isn't aware of this competition? Is there really anyone who's even remotely familiar with the Browns who doesn't know about the four-way battle between Joe Flacco, Kenny Pickett, Dillon Gabriel and Shedeur Sanders to be the guy to start Sept. 7 against the Cincinnati Bengals? If you are one of those people, well, here's a very abbreviated recap. Pickett, the 2022 Pittsburgh Steelers first-round pick, and Flacco, the former Super Bowl Most Valuable Player, appear to be the "front runners" for the job, in part because of their previous starting experience. However, Gabriel, a third-round pick, and Sanders, a fifth-round pick, will likely have something to say about that based on how they perform in camp. There's also the very real possibility the two rookies will be fighting to position themselves to be the first to start should the season slip away and the Browns transition to a youth movement.

Can the Cleveland Browns regain their old power running scheme with new running backs?

The Ken Dorsey offensive coordinator experience lasted all of one disastrous 3-14 season. Dorsey had only been fired for a few hours after the 2024 season ended before veteran offensive linemen Joel Bitonio and Jack Conklin both expressed a strong desire to see the Browns get back to their old wide-zone offensive identity. Browns coach Kevin Stefanski turned to Tommy Rees, the former Notre Dame and Alabama offensive coordinator who was Cleveland's tight ends coach in 2024, to replace Dorsey. That's not the only change in the Browns offense, as Nick Chubb — the No. 3 all-time rusher in team history — signed as a free agent with the Houston Texans after they drafted running backs Quinshon Judkins and Dylan Sampson in April. Rees' promotion, plus the two young running backs, are all part of a commitment to return to just what Bitonio and Conklin were asking for — that Kubiak/Shanahan wide-zone offense. It's all about being able to execute it on the field.

Can the Cleveland Browns get good health along the offensive line?

Cleveland Browns running back Nick Chubb (24) scores a touchdown as guard Joel Bitonio (75) blocks Pittsburgh Steelers linebacker Patrick Queen (6) on Nov. 21, 2024, in Cleveland.

This is a season-long question, but it's one that is worth asking now because of the trickle-down impact it has on the entire offense. The last couple of seasons have included a revolving door of offensive line groups because of injuries. Cleveland started eight different offensive line combinations in 2024, with Bitonio the only one to start all 17 games, and seven over the course of its 2023 playoff season, although one of those came in the regular-season finale when Stefanski rested a number of starters. The Browns, when healthy, have an older line, but a line that has proven itself to be one of the league's best with former All-Pros Bitonio at left guard and Conklin at right tackle along with multi-time Pro Bowl guard Wyatt Teller. Veteran Ethan Pocic, even if he's never been a Pro Bowler, has been solid at center. Dawand Jones has two questions to answer this season — can he stay healthy and can he adjust to left tackle — but has shown when he is healthy he can handle NFL pass rushers. If that line can stay healthy, it should help with the run game, which could take pressure off whoever the quarterback ends up being. All of the sudden, the offense has a chance to be good enough to keep the Browns competitive.

Who'll end up being WR2 and WR3 behind WR1 Jerry Jeudy?

Cleveland Browns wide receiver Cedric Tillman (19) celebrates after catching a touchdown pass against the Baltimore Ravens on Oct. 27, 2024, in Cleveland, Ohio.

Jerry Jeudy had the best season of his still-young NFL career in 2024, catching a franchise-record 90 passes for 1,229 yards after having been acquired in a March trade from the Denver Broncos. That earned him his first Pro Bowl appearance. The other 12 wide receivers on the roster have combined for one Pro Bowl appearance, and that belongs to Diontae Johnson, the biggest wild card on the roster. The 2019 Pittsburgh Steelers draft pick signed a non-guaranteed one-year veteran's-minimum contract after a disastrous 2024 season in which he bounced from the Carolina Panthers to the Baltimore Ravens, where he was suspended for a game, before ending up with the Texans. If the Browns' low-risk gamble hits, Johnson gives them a legitimately dangerous No. 2 behind Jeudy. Johnson's not the only one who could be that, however. Third-year pro Cedric Tillman was showing some signs of breaking out in 2024 before a Week 11 concussion ended his season. If one or both of them emerge, that certainly helps. Otherwise, it's potentially relying on 2024 fifth-round pick Jamari Thrash, 2022 third-rounder David Bell, 2022 sixth-rounder Michael Woods II or any number of rookies.

What kind of season can the Cleveland Browns get out of TE David Njoku?

Cleveland Browns tight end David Njoku comes down with the ball during practice at the team's minicamp June 11, 2025, in Berea, Ohio.

David Njoku would be the first one to tell you how disappointed he was with the way his 2024 season played out. An ankle injury in the third quarter of the season opener on a questionable tackle cost him three games early in the season. A hamstring injury in Week 14 cost him a game, and a Week 16 knee injury cost him the final two games of the season. That's six games lost, six games that prevented Njoku from potentially getting into a rhythm to allow him to build off his Pro Bowl 2023 season. Njoku followed up that career year of 81 catches for 882 yards and six touchdowns with 64 catches for 505 yards and five touchdowns in 2024. Of those, 10 catches for 76 yards and a score came in the Browns' Week 7 loss to the Bengals. Njoku is entering the final year of his contract, and the Browns clearly have looked to the future a bit with the selection of Harold Fannin Jr. in the third round of April's draft. As has been the case since the Browns selected him in the first round of the 2017 draft, Njoku's skill set makes him such difficult matchup for defenses, but his enigmatic play has left many frustrated by which version they're going to get. The Browns offense needs something much closer to the 2023 version of Njoku if it is to resemble something close to the best version of itself.