The Cleveland Browns are 3-9 heading into a winnable matchup with the 1-11 Tennessee Titans, who are indisputably the worst team in the league and would be a tough loss to stomach if the Browns don’t get the job done.
It’s not exactly where Browns fans hoped this team would be in Week 14, but it’s also not terribly surprising considering the Browns began the season with a four-man quarterback competition.
That being said, this is a rebuilding season, and there have been signs of brighter days to come. One of those signs has been the fact that Shedeur Sanders is giving the offense signs of life, who will look to improve to 2-1 as a starter against Tennessee.
Rebuilding is a part of football, but after winning just three games last year and with how little success this franchise has had for decades, patience is running thin.
As for the way through the rebuild, The Athletic’s Zac Jackson believes the fastest way through the rebuild is through Sanders.
“The most direct way out of this is to find your own Brock Purdy, and that’s Shedeur Sanders or not. I think there’s a huge four quarters ahead, I think there’s a huge four weeks ahead,” Jackson said.
Jackson acknowledged that this is the case in an ideal world, noting that an ideal world is not a world the Browns spend much time in. That being said, Sanders being as good as Purdy would be a godsend for a franchise that could certainly use one.
The rest of the season should be telling for Sanders’ future, even if it is a small sample size. It’s not out of the question for him to show enough progress to convince the Browns to pass on drafting another quarterback in 2026 and at least give him a full year as the starter to see what he can do.
If Sanders flames out at that point, at least the Browns can say they gave it a real shot and then draft their franchise quarterback later on.
There are a lot of moving parts to this equation, and they all start with Sanders’ performance against Tennessee.
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