Browns QB Shedeur Sanders shines at OTAs, but there’s a catch

Matthew Wadleigh

Browns QB Shedeur Sanders shines at OTAs, but there’s a catch image

The Cleveland Browns quarterback competition is at the forefront of the position battles early on across the NFL. Each of Joe Flacco, Kenny Pickett, Dillon Gabriel and Shedeur Sanders are fighting for the job with all four guys having a chance to enter September as the QB1. 

It's early in the process, but it has been something to monitor in Cleveland. 

On Wednesday, another round of OTAs took place, and ESPN Cleveland shared the stats for each of the signal-callers. 

  • Joe Flacco: 4-for-7, zero touchdowns 
  • Shedeur Sanders: 9-for-14, three touchdowns, one interception 
  • Kenny Pickett: 9-for-15, two touchdowns 
  • Dillon Gabriel: 11-for-20, three touchdowns 

So, the rookies each threw three touchdowns, and Gabriel attempted the most passes. But, it was Sanders who dazzled with some impressive throws. 

However, Sanders' strong outing comes with a caveat, per Daniel Oyefusi of ESPN

"Browns OTA practice just ended. It was a strong day for Shedeur Sanders, who notably was the only QB not to take reps with the first-team offense today. Head coach Kevin Stefanski has downplayed the practice order and first-team reps but we’ll see if that changes during mandatory minicamp next week."

Oyefusi mentioned that Sanders was the only one of the QBs not to take reps with the first-team offense, which seems a bit strange given the way he has performed early on. 

Still, it was a strong showing from Sanders even without working with the first-team offense. 

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Matthew Wadleigh

Matthew Wadleigh is a freelance writer with The Sporting News. He was born and raised in Southern California and grew up a San Diego sports fan (yes, it’s tough, except for Aztecs hoops). Matthew went to Fresno State as a journalism major and got to see Davante Adams, Derek Carr, Paul George and Aaron Judge in person. Matthew has written for publications including ClutchPoints, Sportscasting, Fansided, Trojans Wire, UCLA Wire and Buffaloes Wire.