Colorado Buffaloes football legend Shedeur Sanders signed a four-year, $4.6 million rookie-scale contract with the Cleveland Browns on Monday, solidifying his place in a “unique” four-way quarterback competition for the AFC North cellar dweller.
As Pro Football Talk’s Myles Simmons notes, Sanders, Dillon Gabriel, Joe Flacco, and Kenny Pickett all have a chance to start.
“Selected at No. 144 overall in the fifth round, Sanders’ slotted contract is worth $4.6 million. Tom Pelissero of NFL Media notes Sanders’ deal includes a $447,380 signing bonus,” Simmons wrote.
“The Browns are reportedly planning to have a unique quarterback competition, with Sanders, third-round pick Dillon Gabriel, Kenny Pickett, and Joe Flacco all having a chance to earn the club’s starting role.”
Cleveland.com’s Mary Kay Cabot reported over the weekend that Pickett is the current frontrunner for the team’s starting job under center.
“It's a tough call before we've even seen the first practice of organized team activities, but I know Kenny Pickett heads in as the frontrunner to win the starting job at the outset,” Cabot wrote Sunday. “He'll take the initial first-team reps in OTAs and probably the mandatory minicamp, and it seems like it's his job to try to keep for now.”
The Pickett trade involved a fifth-round pick and Dorian Thompson-Robinson. If he has a chance at starting, there’s no reason why Sanders wouldn’t. Especially with the added hype of being Deion Sanders’ son and potential payouts from his merchandise.
ESPN analyst Dan Orlovsky believes the Browns would be best off handing the baton to either Sanders or Gabriel instead of Flacco or Pickett.
“I would do everything I can to start either Shedeur Sanders or Dillon Gabriel this year. I would only start Joe Flacco or Kenny, and probably Joe, if, ‘Oh my gosh, this is a disaster.’ And if you're Kevin Stefanski and Andrew Berry, their head coach and general manager, you go, ‘Hey, if one of these two kids starts, we're going to get fired,’ if it's that bad throughout the preseason,” Orlovsky said on the Pat McAfee Show.
“There's not a ton of benefit, for me, starting Joe Flacco, because it doesn't answer anything with the potential of next year's class and them figuring out long term at least what's the situation. So, I would start one of those two rookies.”
As Sanders, Gabriel, Flacco, and Pickett do battle, all four face the likelihood of sticking in Cleveland until a desperate team comes calling, looking to overpay for a break-glass-in-case-of-emergency option.
Sanders may be the likeliest to get such an offer with his bargain bin pact.