From the outside, it appears that the Cleveland Browns are closer to putting Shedeur Sanders on the practice squad than they are to trading him, but a former Green Bay Packers quarterback said the view from an insider’s perspective is decidedly different.
Former Packers backup Kurt Benkert took to social media Sunday, August 3, and strongly intimated that the Browns took a big step toward dealing Sanders by sidelining him for Saturday’s practice session.
“Browns QB Shedeur Sanders is being held out of team drills today due to what the team is calling shoulder soreness,” Adam Schefter of ESPN reported.
“This is what they do before a trade,” Benkert wrote under a repost of Schefter’s report.
Multiple Former NFL Players Have Suggested Browns Might Trade Shedeur Sanders
GettyCleveland Browns quarterback Shedeur Sanders.
Benkert isn’t the only ex-NFL player to recently suggest that Sanders is a viable trade candidate for Cleveland.
Former cornerback Asante Samuel made similar remarks less than a week ago on the “Say What Needs To Be Said” podcast.
“He goes out there and does something like he did today — nine for nine, two touchdowns — [31] other teams are watching,” Samuel said. “This might be the first time we see in history that something bizarre happens where a team tries to make a trade for him.”
Sanders fell precipitously in the 2026 draft, landing with Cleveland early in Round 5 after most talent scouts afforded the former Colorado Buffaloes quarterback a first- or second-round grade based on his skill set and how it might translate to the NFL game.
However, Sanders had multiple poor interactions with multiple teams during the pre-draft interview process. League insiders speculated that every franchise passed on him several times for that reason before the Browns revisited the issue early on Day 3.
Cleveland may have even viewed Sanders as a potential trade asset in August, or ahead of the November deadline, or even next offseason. The young QB needed to display a level of professionalism and talent that might interest other teams, which he has arguably done to this point.
Sanders has yet to get the chance to play in a preseason or regular-season contest, but he has turned heads during practice sessions with his talent, and he is saying all the right things in the media.
Substantial Number of NFL Teams Could Viably Consider Trade for Shedeur Sanders
GettyQuarterback Shedeur Sanders of the Cleveland Browns.
Several teams may actually want Sanders as a short-term understudy and longterm potential starter, assuming they buy his preseason transformation.
The Los Angeles Rams are dealing with an injury to Matthew Stafford, who is 37 years old, and could be a logical landing spot for Sanders given the depth chart behind Stafford — namely Jimmy Garoppolo and Stetson Bennett IV.
The Las Vegas Raiders traded for veteran Geno Smith this offseason, which moved Aidan O’Connell firmly into the No. 2 slot, then drafted Cam Miller out of North Dakota State in the sixth round. Smith turns 35 in October, while the team clearly doesn’t believe that O’Connell is its quarterback of the future. Miller feels like something of a swing, so why not take another one on a player like Sanders who had interest in the Raiders from the beginning?
The Pittsburgh Steelers are a third organization that might make sense. Aaron Rodgers is on a one-year contract and intends to retire in 2026. The only players on the depth chart behind him are Mason Rudolph — who has proven himself a career backup at this point — sixth-round rookie Will Howard and another career backup in Skylar Thompson.
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