Shedeur Sanders may have gone from a legitimate candidate to be the Cleveland Browns’ starting quarterback to possibly being off the team in less than a week. Deshaun Watson getting all of the first-team practice reps for two straight days over the weekend has changed the tenor of the situation considerably.
With Watson now considered the favorite to be QB1 after making “tremendous strides” during training camp, that leaves Sanders’ immediate and long-term futures up in the air. At practice on Saturday, he split second-team reps with Dillon Gabriel, indicating he may now be competing for the backup job.
As another possible outcome, analyst Aaron Goldhammer said there’s a “real chance” the Browns trade Sanders, rather than dealing with the uncomfortable situation with him as the backup.
“I think there’s a real chance that the Browns are going to trade Shedeur Sanders now. Because I think they’re going to start Watson, and because I think that they think that Shedeur is not well-equipped for a variety of reasons to serve as a backup quarterback. I don’t think anything is done. I don’t think that the phone’s blowing up for this guy. He went in the fifth round for a reason,” Goldhammer said.
"I think there's a real chance they're going to trade Shedeur Sanders. Because I think they're going to start Watson and because I think that they think that Shedeur is not well-equipped for a variety of reasons to serve as a backup QB," – @HammerNation19 👀👀 https://t.co/nPAhA52Gl9 pic.twitter.com/QaWBrCt00R
— ESPN Cleveland (@ESPNCleveland) August 10, 2026
In addition to Watson’s recent emergence, Gabriel also has been noticed for his improvement during camp, even though he did not distinguish himself while getting some enhanced reps. It is possible that head coach Todd Monken might see the third-round pick from the 2025 NFL Draft as better suited to the backup role than Sanders, who draws much more attention than a usual third-round selection.
Trade rumors surrounding Sanders emerged during spring workouts, when it looked like Watson was on his way to being named the starter before minicamps ended. But the 24-year-old continued to improve and close the gap enough that Monken left the competition open until training camp.
After looking like he may have taken the lead with a good first week, Sanders has fallen back again. That may have more to do with Watson finally improving his accuracy and eliminating his concerning interceptions in recent days, so much so that he has run the first team for three of the past four days before the team was off on Sunday.
Now, if these new trade rumors take hold, Monken and the quarterbacks will have even more questions to answer at practice this week than they would have otherwise, heading toward the preseason opener against the Chicago Bears this coming Saturday.
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