The Cleveland Browns entered the 2025 NFL season with a dreaded quarterback carousel. The coaching staff had to choose between Joe Flacco, Dillon Gabriel, and Shedeur Sanders as their Week 1 starter, but quickly made it clear that Flacco would be the guy.
While his veteran presence was a good move for the locker room and team morale, Flacco’s age showed early, and he didn’t provide the level of upside the Browns were looking for. Sanders was the furthest person in their mind to replace him, as Dillon Gabriel was almost immediately named the starter.
To Sanders’ credit, he remained calm and positive in the public eye, believing his time would come. His time has indeed come for this organization, and he made the most of his opportunity in his third start, which came against the Tennessee Titans.
He threw for 364 yards and three touchdowns, also logging just one interception in the process.
Shedeur Sanders’ week 14 stats:
-23 for 42
-364 passing yards
-29 rushing yards
-4 TDs – 1INTSanders is the 1st #Browns QB in history with 350+ passing yards, 3 passing TDs, and 1 rushing TD in a game…#DawgPound pic.twitter.com/YjnYhOBVhi
— Dillon Burns (@DillonBurns_18) December 9, 2025
The interception came at a suboptimal time, a throw he’d certainly like to have back, but that’s what teams can expect from rookie QBs. Now that the league has seen what Sanders can do, it might be tough to take the genie out of the bottle, so to speak.
Analyst Jonathan Peterlin mentioned this on 92.3’s “The Fan” when talking about the future of the position for the Browns.
“I think it’s gonna be incredibly hard to move the Browns off of Mendoza or Moore or whatever QB… but the work is all right in front of Shedeur,” Peterlin said.
As Peterlin mentioned, the Browns will more than likely have a top-five pick in the 2026 NFL Draft, which could lend itself nicely to them taking a top-tier quarterback.
This might have been their thought or potential strategy a few weeks ago, but with Sanders putting up this monster performance, they might end up rolling with him as their starter, at least for the 2026 campaign.
Sanders has a chance moving forward to completely change the Browns’ 2026 draft plans.
NEXT: Browns Rookie Quietly Notched Career-High In Sunday's Loss
