{"id":348739,"date":"2025-09-07T10:44:10","date_gmt":"2025-09-07T10:44:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/348739\/"},"modified":"2025-09-07T10:44:10","modified_gmt":"2025-09-07T10:44:10","slug":"why-isnt-shedeur-sanders-starting-how-browns-qb-depth-chart-stacks-up","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/348739\/","title":{"rendered":"Why isn’t Shedeur Sanders starting? How Browns QB depth chart stacks up"},"content":{"rendered":"

NFL<\/a> fans spent most of the 2025 offseason wondering who would win the Cleveland Browns<\/a>‘ wide-open quarterback competition.<\/p>\n

They got their answer ahead of the team’s third preseason game, when the Browns announced Joe Flacco had won the battle<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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Flacco emerged from the crowded field as several members of the competition missed time due to injuries. The 40-year-old spent the 2024 NFL season with the Indianapolis Colts<\/a>, posting a 2-4 record across six starts while completing 65.3% of his passes for 1,761 yards, 12 touchdowns and seven interceptions.<\/p>\n

While Flacco’s selection won’t be a surprise to many who followed the Browns quarterback competition closely, some NFL fans were undoubtedly hoping to see one of the team’s younger quarterbacks emerge in the starting role.<\/p>\n

But ultimately, neither Dillon Gabriel<\/a> nor Shedeur Sanders<\/a> were able to stake a claim to the starting job despite shining at times during the preseason.<\/p>\n

Here’s more to know about Cleveland’s decision and how the depth chart will shake out behind Flacco.<\/p>\n

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Why isn’t Shedeur Sanders starting for the Browns?<\/p>\n

While Sanders received a lot of hype during the 2025 NFL offseason, the Colorado product was always facing an uphill battle to emerge as a Week 1 starter.<\/p>\n

Sanders was routinely listed as the No. 4 quarterback on Cleveland’s depth chart after being selected in the fifth round of the 2025 NFL Draft. He was listed behind Flacco, Pickett and fellow rookie Gabriel, who was selected 50 picks ahead of him in the third round of the 2025 NFL Draft.<\/p>\n

As such, Sanders had to make up ground to get into the starting quarterback race. He took advantage<\/a> of an opportunity to do just that in Week 1 of the preseason, when Flacco, Pickett and Gabriel were all out of action. Sanders played the bulk of the game because of those absences and completed 14 of 23 passes for 138 yards and two touchdowns in a 30-10 Browns victory over the Carolina Panthers<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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SHEDEUR SANDERS DEBUT GRADES: Browns QB shines vs. Panthers<\/a><\/p>\n

However, Sanders was unable to build on that momentum in preseason Week 2. He suffered an oblique injury<\/a> in practice and was held out of the team’s game against the Philadelphia Eagles<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Sanders was unable to emerge as a true challenger for Flacco while he was out of action. Stefanski named the 40-year-old veteran Cleveland’s starter following the second preseason game.<\/p>\n

Sanders’ attention then shifted to a dual goal of winning a roster spot with the Browns and battling Pickett and Gabriel for the backup quarterback job.<\/p>\n

Sanders struggled badly<\/a> in Cleveland’s final preseason game, completing 3 of 6 passes for 14 yards while being sacked five times for 41 yards. Nonetheless, the 23-year-old still managed to make Cleveland’s 53-man roster and settled into his role as the Browns’ third-string quarterback after Pickett was traded to the Las Vegas Raiders<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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OPINION: I want Shedeur Sanders to succeed. But Browns QB looked awful vs. Rams<\/a><\/p>\n

Browns QB depth chart<\/p>\n

The Browns currently have three quarterbacks on their 53-man roster and four healthy ones in their organization. Below is a look at the pecking order within the group:<\/p>\n

Deshaun Watson<\/a> is also still a part of the Browns organization. He is presently on the physically unable to perform (PUP) list after he tore his Achilles in Week 7 last season and again less than three months later. He isn’t expected to play in 2025 because of the injury.<\/p>\n

Tyler Huntley<\/a> was on Cleveland’s 90-man roster during the offseason. He signed on as the team’s fifth-string quarterback amid injuries to Gabriel and Pickett but was released as part of the team’s final cuts. The 2022 Pro Bowler has since signed with the Baltimore Ravens’ practice squad.<\/p>\n

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Meanwhile, Zappe made one start for the Browns last season \u2013 completing 16 of 31 passes for 170 yards, one touchdown and two interceptions in a 35-10 loss to the Ravens \u2013 but spent the 2025 offseason with the Kansas City Chiefs. The Browns brought back the 2022 fourth-round pick on their practice squad after roster cuts to serve as their fourth-string quarterback.<\/p>\n

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Why Joe Flacco, not Shedeur Sanders, is starting for Browns Week 1<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NFL fans spent most of the 2025 offseason wondering who would win the Cleveland Browns‘ wide-open quarterback competition.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":348740,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2054],"tags":[6089,117,86,260,85,54,2337,563,1033,7,392,562,110,393,6,109,9791,424,17,582,1762],"class_list":{"0":"post-348739","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cleveland-browns","8":"tag-bailey-zappe","9":"tag-baltimore-ravens","10":"tag-browns","11":"tag-carolina-panthers","12":"tag-cleveland","13":"tag-cleveland-browns","14":"tag-clevelandbrowns","15":"tag-deshaun-watson","16":"tag-dillon-gabriel","17":"tag-football","18":"tag-indianapolis-colts","19":"tag-joe-flacco","20":"tag-kansas-city-chiefs","21":"tag-las-vegas-raiders","22":"tag-nfl","23":"tag-philadelphia-eagles","24":"tag-preseason-game","25":"tag-rams","26":"tag-shedeur-sanders","27":"tag-the-browns","28":"tag-tyler-huntley"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/115162610143249329","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/348739","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=348739"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/348739\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/348740"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=348739"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=348739"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=348739"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}