Colorado Buffaloes football legend Shedeur Sanders is a distant fourth in the Cleveland Browns’ four-man quarterback competition, but some talking heads are continuing a potentially harmful hype campaign that’s overhyped the “Grown QB” to an unrealistic degree.
ESPN’s Louis Riddick joined the fray with a claim that featured several caveats: there is “no question” Sanders can become the team’s starter, but if and only if he gets enough reps to make it a fair contest.
“It’s not ridiculous, as long as they can get him enough reps. It sounds like Kevin Stefanski is aware of the fact that in order to create a real quarterback competition, he’ll have to change some things in terms of how he divvies out reps in the preseason and offseason. If he can compete with Dillon Gabriel, Joe Flacco and Kenny Pickett, there’s a very good chance that — if this is an organic competition with a level playing field — he can be your starter Week 1. No question about it,” Riddick said on ESPN airwaves.
Cleveland.com’s Mary Kay Cabot claimed that Sanders has to “knock the socks off” Browns head coach Kevin Stefanski and Co. over the next two months to leapfrog the trio in front of him and become QB1.
Cabot added that Sanders’ potentially seeing the field later in the 2025 season is likelier than him being the Week 1 starter.
“He’s still a longshot to start on opening day, but if he knocks the Browns’ socks off during the preseason, he’ll at least remain in the conversation. It’s more likely that he’d make his way onto the field later in the season, but no one has been ruled out yet in the four-man competition among veterans Kenny Pickett and Joe Flacco, and rookies Dillon Gabriel and Sanders,” Cabot wrote.
Sanders and Gabriel are roster locks according to Cabot. A trade for either is unlikely. Especially for Sanders, whose trade value has nothing close to a league-wide consensus right now.
Also, Andrew Berry may keep all four of his QBs. This competition may have four horses in the race all season.
Sounds like a surefire way for Cleveland to end up selecting at the top of the 2026 NFL draft.