Where you land matters. Although the Cleveland Browns are not expected to contend for the playoffs this season in the deep AFC, I find them to be well-coached and have a quality front office. Their dynamic tandem of Kevin Stefanski and Andrew Berry has me as a slight believer that things will get better for this long-suffering AFC franchise. Of course, they will have a new starting quarterback...
In Mike Jones' "NFL training camp storylines to watch" post for The Athletic, he mentions the ageless Joe Flacco seems to be in the driver's seat to win the starting job out of camp for the Browns. Flacco was the team's starting quarterback down the stretch on their playoff team two years ago. He is competing with first-round bust Kenny Pickett and two rookies in Dillon Gabriel and Shedeur Sanders.
While he did not exactly label either Gabriel or Sanders as long shots, he did write "each hope to pull off upsets." I never understood why Gabriel was a third-round pick, especially since I thought the fifth-rounder in Sanders had the better NFL upside. However, we all know that Stefanski's job is on the line this season. Flacco may have a short leash, but he has won a Super Bowl before in his NFL career.
Heading into training camp, there is a chance that Sanders does not even end up making the Browns.
How can Shedeur Sanders end up winning Cleveland Browns' starting job
At this stage of the game, I sincerely doubt Sanders is going to emerge as the team's Week 1 starter. It is probably going to be Flacco. While I think there is a chance it could be Gabriel, given the optics of him being a third-round pick out of Oregon, it probably will not be Sanders, nor should it be Pickett. That being said, Sanders is the only one of the three I could see being as good of a pro as Flacco was.
It is not just the NFL pedigree he has on his side, but there were serious rumblings about him being a first-round pick heading into last spring's NFL Draft. Sanders won games at schools that are not easy to have success at with Jackson State and Colorado. He throws a catchable ball and is a fiery competitor under center. However, his NFL entry point does not seem to be on his side even one bit.
Keep in mind that Flacco and Pickett were former first-round picks out of Delaware and Pittsburgh, respectively. Baltimore leaned on Flacco for about a decade from 2008 until midway through 2018. At that point, they pivoted to a more dynamic and younger Lamar Jackson. Pickett was a massive reach by Pitt, but he did have a good college career for the Panthers. So what does this mean for Sanders?
If I had to guess, he needs to not only look great in training camp and in the preseason, but he may need one or two guys ahead of him on the Browns' depth chart to look worse. In my estimation, one of them has to be Gabriel. The other probably has to be Pickett. So what I am getting at is Sanders' best chance of being a starter for the Browns is to serve as Flacco's primary backup to start this fall.
I still think there is an NFL future for Sanders, but Cleveland's setup is not making it any easier for him.