The only way Colorado Buffaloes football legend Shedeur Sanders will get snaps for the Cleveland Browns during the 2025 season is if Dillon Gabriel gets his shot, then crashes and burns. Even then, the team might ride Gabriel out until the end of the season and eye a quarterback for him to compete with in the 2026 NFL draft.
Sanders isn’t guaranteed a shot at all. Now or in the future. He clearly wasn't in the aftermath of his historic draft slide. But the guy in front of him isn’t even guaranteed a shot over the next month as the Browns take on the Green Bay Packers, Detroit Lions, Minnesota Vikings, and Pittsburgh Steelers.
Cleveland may stick with current QB1 Joe Flacco through the tough stretch, per Cleveland.com’s Mary Kay Cabot.
“I think it depends on how Joe looks over the next couple of weeks,” Cabot told host Anthony Kima on the “Ken Carman Show.” “I don’t think they’re in any rush to get Dillon out there. I think they’re in a stretch right now of four out of five games on the road. They’re facing three really tough NFC North teams, playoff teams, and great defenses. So, they have a lot of things going on right now.
“I think it behooves them to have a veteran presence in there. But certainly, he’s got to make sure that he’s protecting the football. That’s job number one. And if he can do that, then he’ll keep his job.”
Sanders re-entered the news cycle in a major way last week with the revelation that he chose not to back up Lamar Jackson on the Baltimore Ravens. The Ravens’ brain trust eyed Sanders with the No. 141 pick in the 2025 NFL draft this past April. The Browns picked Sanders three spots later at No. 144.
It doesn’t appear he’ll re-enter it anytime soon for what he does on the field.
Whether or not Gabriel gets his chance anytime soon depends on whether Flacco can at least come away with a 2-2 record against the Packers, Lions, Vikings, and Steelers over the next month.