The Cleveland Browns have been one of the most talked-about teams in the NFL since they drafted Shedeur Sanders in the 5th round of the 2025 NFL Draft. Despite the popularity, Sanders will not be seeing much action this season unless some unfortunate injuries occur to the quarterbacks ahead of him.
On Tuesday, ahead of the start of the regular season, the Browns have made their QB decisions. Joe Flacco will be the starting QB for Week 1 and potentially longer. Now, head coach Kevin Stefanski has said that Dillon Gabriel will be the backup to Flacco for the foreseeable future. That leaves Sanders as the third string and emergency QB, and it seems as if they will keep all three for this season.
The battle between Gabriel and Sanders has been one of the more talked-about battles this camp. Gabriel has been unbothered by his place in the depth chart all camp, and now being the backup shouldn't be a surprise to him.
This preseason, Gabriel has thrown for 272 yards and one touchdown. He has also thrown an interception. It was a small sample size, but his outing against the Los Angeles Rams proved that he is capable of playing in the NFL. He completed 12 of 19 passes for 129 yards and one touchdown with the Browns running basic play calls. When Gabriel came in for Flacco against the Rams, it was almost a given then that he would be named the backup.
Sanders has played well this preseason, also. However, he has not been given as many reps. Sanders threw for 152 yards and two touchdowns this preseason. Although against the Rams, he threw for just 14 yards and had a lot of trouble avoiding sacks. As of now, the Browns have made the right decision with their signal callers.
The battle between Gabriel and Sanders is far from over.
