Cleveland Browns quarterback Shedeur Sanders was in headlines this week for his odd mimed response to Dillon Gabriel being named the starting quarterback heading into Week 5, but the somewhat eye-opening part of the ordeal is that Joe Flacco is still the backup, while Sanders is still the QB3.
There is plenty of excitement about what Gabriel can do, but many are puzzled about why Sanders didn’t also get bumped up a spot on the depth chart.
NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport reported that the Browns are holding Sanders out until the right moment, ensuring the offense is properly tailored to his strengths.
“The Browns want Sanders to be successful when he’s out there. When he plays, they want him to do so with a game plan that is made for him to thrive. As the backup, if he was forced into action, he’d be running a game plan built for Gabriel, rather than one built to his strengths. Is that fair to Sanders? The expectation is that Sanders will play at some point this season when he’s ready. When he does play, it would be with a full week of practice and a game plan built for him,” Rapoport said.
Gabriel will be Cleveland’s 41st starting quarterback since 1999, so it’s disingenuous to want Sanders to be rushed into the starting role before he is ready.
There’s a world where Gabriel does exceedingly well and doesn’t open the door for another quarterback to start this season, and that is probably the best-case scenario for this team’s final games.
Regardless of how things play out, the Browns absolutely have to figure out if either Gabriel or Sanders can be the quarterback of the future ahead of the 2026 draft, where Cleveland will have two first-round picks in what projects to be a strong QB class.
Sanders needs the right offense to succeed, as does any quarterback, and he shouldn’t see the field until both he and his team are ready.
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