Cleveland Browns fans have been through a whirlwind when it comes to quarterback play during the 2025 NFL season. This phenomenon might feel like Groundhog Day for the fanbase at this point, given how many different QBs have started games for them since 2000, but it’s the unfortunate reality of what they’ve gone through.
Fans weren’t inspired by Joe Flacco to start the year, and while the prospect of rookie Dillon Gabriel was exciting, he didn’t pan out as well as fans might have hoped. There was much more optimism when Shedeur Sanders took the reins, and his massive performance against the Tennessee Titans showcased what he could do at the NFL level.
Unfortunately, Sanders and his teammates took a massive step back in Week 15 against the Chicago Bears.
Kurt Warner talked about Sanders’ performance in a recent segment of “Afternoon Drive” on 92.3’s “The Fan,” putting words to what fans have seen thus far.
“I thought in the first few games, he was getting better and better every week,” Warner said, adding, “He didn’t play as well this weekend, or yesterday, I feel like he played really tentative, didn’t feel very confident.”
As Warner mentioned, it seemed like Sanders was finding his footing more and more every week, which culminated in that huge statistical performance against the Titans. He took a major step back against the Bears from a production standpoint, but as a rookie, games like that should be expected, especially against defenses as ferocious as the Bears’.
Sanders will get three more starts this season to showcase what he can do, hopefully giving the Browns a more complete body of work to decide on how they’re going to move forward at the position. He’ll have his work cut out for him over the next two weeks when the Browns face off against the Buffalo Bills and Pittsburgh Steelers.
If he plays better in these games than he did against Chicago, attitudes surrounding his outlook could dramatically shift.
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