Browns QB Shedeur Sanders Gets Bad News on Starting Job

The Cleveland Browns have a handful of quarterbacks from whom to choose a starter over the next several weeks, but one man is pretty clearly in control of his own destiny more than the competition.

Cleveland drafted two quarterbacks at the end of last month — Dillon Gabriel of Oregon late in the third round and Shedeur Sanders of Colorado early in the fifth round. Their status as rookie QBs on inexpensive contract who, nevertheless, required a draft pick to acquire probably means they’re both safe from the chopping block this offseason. However, none of that has any bearing at all with regards to starting come Week 1.

The Browns picked up Joe Flacco in free agency and traded for Kenny Pickett this offseason. They are both owed approximately $3 million in guaranteed money, which wouldn’t break the team if it chose to release either of them. That said, either signal caller could probably bring back a draft asset of some sort, so a trade will be the most likely form of exit for either Flacco or Pickett, should one of them depart Cleveland this season.

Given their ages and financial situations, Flacco or Pickett is the most likely QB to end up on another roster come Week 1. However, given their NFL experience and relative histories of success, they’re also the most likely to win the Browns’ starting job.

“Right now, I’d bet on Joe Flacco starting the opener for that reason,” Albert Breer of Sports Illustrated wrote on Wednesday, May 7. “But, again, Dillon Gabriel and Shedeur Sanders will have the chance to change the equation if they show well enough over the course of May and the first half of June.”