The Cleveland Browns saw what they needed to see from rookie Dillon Gabriel against the Minnesota Vikings in London, enough anyway to part ways with Joe Flacco on Tuesday, which means they have apparently also seen everything they need from Shedeur Sanders in practice.
Cleveland flipped Flacco and a sixth-round pick to the Cincinnati Bengals for a fifth-rounder, promoting Sanders to QB2 in the process.
“Shedeur Sanders is the new backup in Cleveland. #Browns,” Brad Stainbrook reported via X.
The change, which came swiftly Tuesday, indicates a shift from what league insiders were saying about Cleveland and its belief in Sanders’ readiness to step into a backup QB role full-time.
Shedeur Sanders Now Single Step Away From Starting First NFL Game
GettyCleveland Browns quarterback Shedeur Sanders.
Ian Rapoport of NFL Network reported on Saturday precisely why Flacco remained QB2 after his demotion from the starting role rather than Sanders getting the job.
The Browns want Sanders to be successful when he’s out there. When he plays, they want him to do so with a game plan that is made for him to thrive,” Rapoport wrote. “As the backup, if he was forced into action, he’d be running a game plan built for Gabriel rather than one built to his strengths. … The expectation is that Sanders will play at some point this season, when he’s ready. When he does play, it would be with a full week of practice and a game plan built for him.”
The Browns‘ decision to promote Sanders to QB2 now likely means the offense will install some schemes specifically for him in the case that he has to step in for Gabriel abruptly due to injury or poor play. It could also mean that Sanders is coming along well enough in practice that the team believes he can substitute for Gabriel in a pinch, regardless of the game plan that week.
Shedeur Sanders Likely to Start for Browns at Some Point in 2025
GettyQuarterback Shedeur Sanders of the Cleveland Browns.
The road has been somewhat long for Sanders, and incredibly tumultuous, since he plummeted from a first-round draft prospect in late April all the way to an early fifth-round pick of the Browns.
Sanders then entered the offseason as QB4. However, Cleveland dealt Kenny Pickett to the Las Vegas Raiders for a fifth-round pick in August, after which Sanders elevated into the QB3 role. He has remained the team’s emergency quarterback through five weeks, including after Flacco lost his job to Gabriel ahead of last weekend’s contest against Minnesota.
Bailey Zappe is also on the Browns‘ roster and will presumably move into the role of emergency QB in the weeks ahead.
Regardless of how well Gabriel plays or how well Zappe practices, it is highly likely that Cleveland will eventually start Sanders for some duration of time, or at least play him, so as to gauge what the franchise has in both he and Gabriel heading into the 2026 draft. The Browns own two first-round picks next spring, their own and the one belonging to the Jacksonville Jaguars, and there is a reasonable chance Cleveland could look for another quarterback early in Round 1.
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