Is Shedeur Sanders worth the risk? The Browns selected the Colorado product in the fifth round of the 2025 NFL Draft and then started him seven games. Sanders showed flashes, but ultimately turned the ball over far too often for Todd Monken to feel comfortable enough making him the unquestioned starting QB heading into the 2026-27 season. Instead, Sanders is battling with Deshaun Watson and Dillon Gabriel for QB1 snaps, and it hasn't gone according to plan thus far.
Should Sanders fail to regain control of his own narrative, the Browns might be best-served trading him. Losing a QB battle to Watson and Gabriel would not be a good look, or good fortune for Sanders' future in Cleveland beyond this season. The Browns should be bad again, which means they'll target another QB of the future in the 2027 draft. Still, Sanders has shown he can adapt to the modern NFL. For a team like the Detroit Lions, which recently lost Teddy Bridgewater, Sanders would serve as a beacon of hope behind Jared Goff. It's worth the risk.
What a Lions trade package for Shedeur Sanders would look like
The Lions signed Josh Dobbs over the weekend, but the Passtronaut alone isn't capable enough to fill Goff's shoes if called upon. Rather, Detroit should trade for Sanders, a young player with some promise who could be what Lions fans were hoping for in Hendon Hooker a few years ago. Sanders does not wilt under pressure — he's dealt with plenty of that, figuratively and literally, at Colorado and then the Browns with little help around him — and he's still on a rookie contract.
Would the Browns make this trade?
The Browns thought they got a steal in Sanders, and that still might prove to be true. Again, this is a player who showed some flashes at the tail end of the 2025-26 season, but not enough to earn a surefire starting spot over a veteran like Watson, who the Browns invested so much in so long ago. Rather than admitting defeat on Watson like a competent organization, Jimmy Haslam's ownership group is determined to make this work, even though it won't.
In starting Sanders, at least the Browns would find out once and for all if he is what his father says he is. Monken's unlikely to disobey the front office and ownership in his first season. Dealing Sanders and a seventh to the Lions for a fifth-rounder in what should be a loaded draft isn't a bad deal on the surface.
Verdict: Yes
Would the Lions make this trade?
Jared Goff has played in all 17 games for each of the past four seasons. He is as stables as they come, and the Lions have needed him to be Mr. Ironman at that. The second Goff goes down, the Lions postseason chances tumble. Of course, Brad Holmes could do something about that by acquiring a backup the Lions can actually rely on, or at least develop alongside Goff. Dobbs isn't that, and let's not pretend Luke Altmyer stands a chance.
Position | Player |
|---|---|
QB1 | Jared Goff |
QB2 | Shedeur Sanders |
QB3 | Josh Dobbs |
QB4 | Luke Altmyer |
Sanders is bolded in the chart above to highlight how much better the Lions training camp depth chart looks with him as QB2. Dobbs has started games in the NFL, but is often a one-trick pony who inevitably comes crashing down to earth when his rocket ship runs out of fuel. Altmyer is just a guy, and most of you have never heard of him. Sanders, with an entrenched starting QB ahead of him, should be far more tolerable in Detroit than Cleveland. Any Shedeur stans calling for the benching of Goff will be rightly shamed off social media entirely.
Add us as a preferred source on Google