The Shedeur Sanders era for the Cleveland Browns could either begin or end with the first start of his NFL career in Week 12.
Sanders spent the week prepping for the Las Vegas Raiders and spoke with CBS Sports reporter Tiffany Blackmon before the game, sending a confident six-word message to his teammates and the fans.
“What do you hope to show against this Raiders defense, your teammates, yourself and these Browns fans with your play today?” Blackmon asked.
“I’m who they been looking for,” Sanders responded.
Shedeur Sanders Needs Big Game Against Raiders to Fend Off Return of Dillon Gabriel to QB1 Role
GettyCleveland Browns quarterback Dillon Gabriel.
Sanders’ situation is incredibly unique in several ways.
After falling from a high first-round prospect all the way to the early portion of Round 5, Sanders started the offseason as QB4, entered the regular season as QB3 and didn’t see his first action until fellow rookie signal-caller Dillon Gabriel suffered a concussion late in the first half of the team’s Week 11 contest against the Baltimore Ravens.
No quarterback drafted so low has ever had so much hype, as Cleveland fans and media members have clamored for weeks for Sanders to get his shot. However, when he finally did, the 23-year-old fell flat with a 4-of-16 performance for 47 yards and an interception.
Head coach Kevin Stefanski said following the contest that Gabriel, who is 1-5 as the starter this season, will return to his job as QB1 as soon as he is healthy enough to do so. That didn’t happen this week, which allowed Sanders to get first-team reps in practice for the first time all year and enter the matchup against the Raiders with a game plan tailored to his skill set.
Normally a rookie quarterback would get the kind of leeway that the Browns have offered Gabriel, but because Sanders was the second of two rookies at the position, his window is proving much tighter.
If he plays well and Cleveland wins, it will be very difficult for Stefanski to pull him for Gabriel, even if Gabriel is healthy enough to play next week. However, if Sanders struggles again, the Browns could go back to Gabriel and focus on his development for the remainder of the season.
Browns Positioned to Select QB High in 2026 NFL Draft
GettyIndiana Hoosiers quarterback Fernando Mendoza.
The latter of those two potential developments might mean Sanders never gets another chance to start for the Browns, as the team is likely to look hard at drafting a rookie near the top of the first round in the 2026 NFL draft.
Cleveland should be picking somewhere in the top 10, and potentially the top five, and also has a second first-round selection at its disposal via a trade with the Jacksonville Jaguars. Should the Browns make that move, it would be logical to keep Gabriel as competition for whatever rookie they pick and possibly trade Sanders for a Day 2 or Day 3 draft pick.
Sanders and the Browns took an early 7-0 lead over the Raiders in the first quarter of the game Sunday.
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