Cleveland Browns quarterback Shedeur Sanders recently stirred up a few headlines when he announced that he is signing with an agency for the first time, and it just so happens that it’s the same agency that represents his former teammate at Colorado, Jacksonville Jaguars two-way star Travis Hunter. There’s nothing surprising about hiring an agent, but to do it for the first time at this point in his career, it certainly raises some eyebrows around the league.
With Deshaun Watson outperforming nearly all expectations as the starting quarterback, many are starting to wonder what’s next for Sanders. Dillon Gabriel is on his way back from IR as well, and once he returns, the Browns will have a tough decision to make since they won’t be able to roster four healthy quarterbacks.
It’s the same conundrum they had last offseason when they had four quarterbacks competing for the starting job, and two of those QBs were quickly traded. Chris Simms is one of many who is now wondering if that’s the fate that awaits Sanders, as he recently discussed on an episode of Pro Football Talk.
“To make this type of move right here during the year where there’s no pending contract situation coming up here, there’s nothing you’re going to look at to go, ‘Hey, I got to get this all right and cross my t’s and dot my i’s to make sure I get the money right.’ That’s not happening. So, that’s the only reasonable conclusion you can really make there: that that’s what’s on the radar. And yeah, you get the agent now, and he can maybe set the table for later in the year, in the off-season, to make something happen if that’s what Shedeur Sanders wants. I would think that this is more of the long play. The long play of let’s set the table, let’s let the agent talk to people throughout the season, get in their ear, make the case for Shedeur to where they could set something up in the offseason. That’s what I would imagine,” Simms said.
Sanders surely wants to start again, but that opportunity might not materialize before the trade deadline. It would be easier for him and his new representation to take the time to find him a better, more fruitful opportunity if the Browns wait until the offseason to trade him.
It’s a shame it has come to this, but with the way Watson is playing and with two first-round picks in the 2027 draft, the path for Sanders to take meaningful snaps for the Browns is getting murkier by the day. Either he or Gabriel is likely going elsewhere since Watson and Taylen Green are relatively untradeable at this point, and it’s tough to look around the league and find an ideal landing spot for either of them right now.
Some time on the bench isn’t the worst thing for Sanders, who showed some obvious areas for needed improvement during his time as a starter in 2025. He’ll have his chance to prove himself again; it’s just never been less obvious when or where that chance is going to materialize.
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