The Cleveland Browns came into the NFL season with a quarterback room under heavy scrutiny, featuring two veterans and two mid‑round rookies.
Former Super Bowl MVP Joe Flacco was initially named the starter, but was traded to division rival Cincinnati Bengals on Oct. 7, moving rookie third-round pick Dillon Gabriel up the depth chart to the No. 1 spot.
Now, across seven appearances, Gabriel has done little to back the decision, completing just 58.6% of his passes for 869 yards, seven touchdowns, and two interceptions at a mere 124.1 yards per game clip.
Amidst all of this, the team’s fifth-round rookie, Shedeur Sanders, son of Pro Football Hall of Famer Deion Sanders, has yet to take a regular-season snap.
With the team sitting 2-7 and well outside of the playoff picture, fans and analysts have pushed for Sanders to see more snaps. Yet the team refuses to budge, sticking with Gabriel as their QB1.
On Friday, the situation took a turn when Browns reporter for The Athletic, Zac Jackson, spoke with 92.3 The Fan’s Nick Wilson and Jonathan Peterlin about Sanders’ potential future with the organization.
“I believe, and always have believed, that Shedeur has the talent to be at least an average NFL starting quarterback a year or two from now. So I don’t know, because we’re not in practice, where he is, or what playing him now on this sunken ship would really do to that development.”
“But it was always about, ‘Hey, this is a unique case because there’s talent here. To get this in the fifth round at this position. So if we can bring him along slowly and if we can eventually get him to develop and put him in the right situation, maybe they have something.’ And what I saw for almost all of training camp backed up that thought.”
“So, you know, does he have to play? If he plays a few games, what does it really mean in his long-term development? I don’t know. I know as a franchise, they’re where they didn’t intend to be,” Jackson added.
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From fans to national media to local outlets, all have argued the Browns have little to lose by accelerating Sanders’ development in live games.
In college, Sanders starred at Jackson State for two years before spending his final two at Colorado, where he threw for 4,134 yards and 37 touchdowns in 2024, completing 74% of his passes and earning Big 12 Offensive Player of the Year.
He left his final season with the Buffaloes as the all-time leader in career completion rate (71.3%) at the FBS level.
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For now, it’s tough to predict what will happen, but the Browns’ track record has shown us that they believe this is Gabriel’s spot to hold, and probably for the rest of the year, since pushing Sanders doesn’t offer the team much upside.
However, fans don’t care about the excuses. Keep losing, and the noise only gets louder until the Browns are forced to act.
With another losing season, a struggling offense, and the most criticized QB room in football, the organization can’t afford to tune fans out.