Here's What Happened at Day 1 of Browns Joint Practices With Eagles

QB Competition Update

So with Sanders standing by and Pickett limited on Wednesday, that left Joe Flacco, Dillon Gabriel and Tyler Huntley to handle the team reps during practice. The trio essentially rotated in that order throughout the day.

Flacco, as promised by Kevin Stefanski ahead of practice, took the majority of the reps with the ones, with Gabriel stealing a few here or there throughout a few of the different 11-on-11 scenarios. Flacco missed on a handful of throws, but also looked in control (per usual) running the offense. There is a a night-and-day difference from how the offense looked last year in joint practices against the Vikings and how it looks this year with Flacco against the Eagles.

Despite what the social media box scores might say, Dillon Gabriel had a pretty solid day throwing the football. He tossed two touchdown passes, including a beautiful pass to Gage Larvadain on a deep over. The rookie third-round pick took most of his reps with the twos and threes, and his "stats" were hindered by several drops and a few penalties as well.

With Sanders now injured, things are setting up for Gabriel to start on Saturday, with Huntley to follow, the same way Sanders preempted Huntley last week. Stefanski revealed before practice that he always planned on each rookie starting at least one preseason game.

Play of the Day

Today's submission comes drom the 7-on-7 portion of practice. Eagles' QB Jalen Hurts was looking to connect on a slant route over the middle and Devin Bush read his eyes perfectly, jumped the route and intercepted the ball for a likely pick 6. That play felt like it set the tone for a mostly strong day for the Browns defense.

Player of the Day

For the second straight week, Jerry Jeudy stood out in joint practice with another team. He started the day with a nice catch in one-on-one drills, running a slant with Quinyon Mitchell hanging onto him. Then in 7-on-7s he was on the receiving end of a pinpoint throw from Pickett on a deep over near the sideline, which was a play of the day candidate.

Later, he hauled in a ball from Joe Flacco on a dig route and another on a comeback route that was perfectly squeezed out of reach of the DB's hands. Jeudy's route running continues to be crisp and he continues to be steady.

Quote of the Day

Joe Flacco on what a team can get out of joint practices as they prepare for the regular season:

"I would say I've never loved traveling and going and doing a practice against somebody else, but it's kind what we talked about earlier. You in order to play this game at a high level, you have to be able to compete but also not have your mind racing and get so revved up. It's such an emotional game for pretty much every position in the field and you have to bring that to the field. But how do you play with that emotion but also be within yourself and within the scheme and within all that and then just concentrate on the basics of catching the football and running with the football. How do you balance both of them?

"And I think being in an environment against a different team, it gives you that experience and then you can look back on it and say, man, why was I, did I do this thing extra this time when I normally would've just taken four steps and caught the ball? Why did I decide to do a little bit extra at the top of my route next time I won't do that. You don't need. So anytime you have actual competition, I think when you have guys that are willing to work through it and know that it's not always going to be pretty, you find out a little bit about how to actually go into that competition and still relax and play."

What's Next?

The Browns and Eagles are back at it on Thursday for Day 2 of their joint practices down here in Philly. Then the two inter-conference foes will face off Saturday in preseason game No. 2 for each.