Analyst Says Browns Already Have Their Franchise QB

The Cleveland Browns entered the 2025 NFL season without a clear picture of their quarterback situation. After drafting two quarterbacks (Shedeur Sanders and Dillon Gabriel), and also having Kenny Pickett and Joe Flacco on the roster, fans weren’t sure what to think about what their offensive output would look like.

Flacco, of course, started the season due to his career experience, but when he was traded to the Cincinnati Bengals, it was a free-for-all. As we now know, Gabriel got his shot first, but after getting injured and not playing well, it was the Sanders show for the back half of the season.

Sanders was a polarizing prospect heading into the 2025 NFL Draft, and the Browns received plenty of flak for drafting him in the first place. People also aren’t sure what his outlook in the league looks like moving forward, as he’s still a polarizing player.

The Browns now have to decide if they’re going to roll with Sanders as the starter in 2026 or if they’ll need to look elsewhere, either someone on the roster or otherwise. If it were up to analyst Garrett Bush, the Browns would keep Sanders under center until further notice, believing that he possesses the traits to be a solid NFL quarterback.

“I believe that Shedeur Sanders can be a franchise quarterback… I also believe the Cleveland Browns need to do a good job to get some pieces to surround him,” Bush said.

Bush believes that Sanders just needs some more time to grow and develop, as a lot of young quarterbacks do. It might be hard to remember now that he’s won an MVP award, but Josh Allen’s first few years in the NFL weren’t that great. In fact, people started labeling him as a bust due to his turnover and accuracy issues, but he quickly figured those out and turned into the quarterback fans know today.

Sanders’ trajectory is unknown at the moment, as he hasn’t even had a full 17-game season of starts under his belt. Only time will tell if he’ll get that opportunity moving forward, but fans should start to see what the Browns think of Sanders based on the moves they make over the next several months.