While head coach Kevin Stefanski keeps insisting on starting Dillon Gabriel as the quarterback of the Cleveland Browns, the rest of the NFL world seems ready to see the team give Shedeur Sanders a shot.

One prominent analyst among this group believes it will definitely happen, sooner or later.

Jonathan Jones, lead NFL Insider for CBS Sports, believes it’s just a matter of time before we see the rookie fifth-rounder out of Colorado starting a game for the Browns.

“I think the chances are extremely high. Honestly, I would put it at 100 percent that Shedeur Sanders will see game action. I will put it at 98 percent that Shedeur Sanders will start a game this season. You know what, I’m gonna go 100 percent that he will start a game this season. And I say that because, look at the schedule. More importantly, look at the record- They’re 2-7. They’re not going to the playoffs.”

Shedeur Sanders is not getting his number called just yet in Cleveland, but it’s just a matter of time pic.twitter.com/Jj0UBTpvK4

— Jonathan Jones (@jjones9) November 12, 2025

While Jones appears 100 percent certain that Sanders will start at some point of the season for the Browns, he’s not ready to offer a prediction as to when that moment could arrive.

“There has to come a point with the Cleveland Browns who, they have Deshaun Watson, they had Joe Flacco, they had Kenny Pickett, they have Dillon Gabriel, they spent another draft pick on Shedeur Sanders. You gotta know what you have in Shedeur. And, if Kevin Stefanski does not want to do it against the Ravens, he may not want to do it against the Raiders. Maybe Dillon Gabriel starts turning things around, and he starts looking a little bit better, and it’s like, ‘Well, actually he’s earned another week.’ All of those things can happen, so I think it would be foolish to predict when it’s going to happen for Shedeur, I don’t know that.”

For Jones, Cleveland can’t afford to head into next year’s NFL Draft without at least kicking the tires on Sanders while they can, in a real game situation.

“I do know that the Browns need to know what they have in Shedeur before they get to the 2026 offseason. They have to know that because they have two first round picks in this upcoming draft. Do you spend one of them, both of them, on a quarterback? Right?”

Stefanski has been quick to confirm Gabriel as the team’s starter after the Brown’s most recent losses, while also shooting down any speculation that Sanders might get his chance soon. Cleveland’s head coach seemingly closed the door twice for Watson’s return, too, in the past days.

While there is no logical flaw in Jones’ reasoning, where it would certainly seem beneficial for the team to find out what they have in Sanders after they invested a fifth-round draft pick on him last April, it’s also plausible to suggest that Stefanski and his assistants aren’t too excited about handing him the keys to the starting offense because they already have a pretty good idea of what they have in Sanders, just based on watching him every day at the team complex.

In any case, Jones seems to have a point when he says “it would be foolish to predict when it’s gonna happen for Shedeur”, but not for the reason he’s stating, but because Stefanski seems unmovable from his stance of sticking with Gabriel, no matter what.