Browns QB room must get 'really weird' for rookie Shedeur Sanders to earn 2025 playing time

Don't expect to see much of Cleveland's rookie fifth-rounder

Don't expect to see much, if any, of Shedeur Sanders this season for the Cleveland Browns. No. 3 on the team's quarterback depth chart behind Joe Flacco and fellow rookie Dillon Gabriel, Sanders will take things slow in the developmental process in his first campaign, according to Dianna Russini of The Athletic.

The Browns traded offseason acquisition Kenny Pickett in exchange for a 2026 fifth-round pick after he failed to play a single snap during the preseason with a hamstring issue. 

"For all the football conspiracy theorists out there trying to decode the real reason the Cleveland Browns drafted Shedeur Sanders, here's the truth: There is no big secret," Russini wrote Saturday ahead of Cleveland's opener against Cincinnati. "The pick wasn't some master plan from ownership. It was GM Andrew Berry's call, rooted in his belief that Cleveland's coaching staff could bring out the best in Sanders and help him grow into an NFL quarterback. It will be a process, and the Browns want to keep developing him.

"However, don't plan on seeing the fifth-round rookie on the field this season unless things get really weird. Cleveland believes in Joe Flacco's experience and Dillon Gabriel's development as the backup."

After he took five sacks in the preseason finale, Sanders said he felt it was "obvious" he belonged on the Browns' 53-man roster. A couple days later, that was solidified and now Cleveland moves forward with three active quarterbacks this fall with Deshaun Watson still on the mend due to injury.

"I think overall as a player, I feel like I've put in the work. I feel like everything I do, I try to do it to my best and that's all (I) can ask for, so … I feel like everybody feels like they should be on the team," Sanders said after his final appearance of the preseason. "And if you ask anybody on the team would they feel they belong, they belong in their own eyes. I feel like I do, but I'm my own player. I think about myself in high regard."

While the Browns may reportedly not have plans to play Sanders, injuries happen and much can change in a hurry if there's shakeup within the depth chart with Flacco and Gabriel. Playing for his fourth team in the last four seasons, Flacco started four games for the Jets in 2022, five for the Browns in 2023 and six for the Colts last season.

After going 4-1 across those starts in Cleveland two years ago, the Browns brought Flacco back on a one-year deal. That was before Berry took two quarterbacks in the draft.

At the time, Berry said scooping up Sanders was a value play for the Browns, who recognized talent from the former Colorado star.