Could Shedeur Sanders still end up as the Browns starting quarterback?

Plenty of mock drafts had Shedeur Sanders heading to the Cleveland Browns. Not many of them expected the franchise to land the high-profile prospect in Round 5. Now it's time to take a closer look at what Sanders' immediate future with the Browns might look like.

Cleveland's quarterback is quite crowded after adding two rookies to the fold in this year's draft. Remember, the team also added former Oregon standout Dillon Gabriel to the mix in Round 3. The pair of rookies join Joe Flacco, Deshaun Watson and Kenny Pickett on the current roster.

Watson's latest injury might rule him out for the entire 2025 season. There's zero chance that he'll be ready to be the team's starter when Week 1 arrives. That takes one signal caller out of the way for Sanders.

Will Shedeur Sanders start for the Cleveland Browns?

There's no guarantee that Pickett is going to survive on the roster. It is possible the Browns want to keep him in the building as a backup with some level of experience. The best he can realistically hope for is to start the year as the team's No. 2 option.

Flacco is the presumptive starter for Cleveland heading into Week 1. There's nothing about his play that should excite any fan at this stage of his career. The Browns signed him with the hope he could give them competent play at the game's most important position. That would be an upgrade over what Cleveland trotted out for long stretches of their 2024 campaign but the organization should have higher hopes.

The real challenge for Sanders will be beating out Gabriel to cement his place on the roster. It's possible, yet unlikely, that one of the two rookies can oust Flacco before the regular season begins. The more reasonable path forward for either rookie will be to overtake the veteran the second the Browns realize they aren't legitimate playoff contenders.

It seems obvious that the Browns' scouting staff prefers Gabriel to Sanders since they drafted him much earlier. Interestingly, that's not how many scouts had the two quarterbacks ranked heading into the draft. Yes, many people believed Sanders was overhyped. That didn't mean they believed Gabriel to be the superior prospect.

Sanders needs to keep his head down and prove his humility to everyone in the building as soon as he's allowed to start working with the Browns. He has the physical tools to overtake any advantage Gabriel has over him at the moment.

Neither is blessed with any sort of elite arm strength. Sanders will need to show that his accuracy is superior to Gabriel's to win the battle. The other aspect of his game he must improve is how quickly he's willing to get the ball out of his hands. That's one significant advantage Gabriel seems to have over him at the moment.

The harsh reality for the Browns is that they aren't going to win a lot of games in 2025, no matter which quarterback lines up under center. Sanders has a shot to edge Gabriel out in the preseason and start the year as the backup. If he makes that happen, he should take over for Flacco as the starter at some point during the season.