The Cleveland Browns have decided on Joe Flacco as their starting quarterback.
But with a roster still loaded with QBs, there are jobs to be won. If Shedeur Sanders wants to end up somewhere higher on the depth chart than fourth (a spot which comes with a risk of getting cut), he's still got work to do.
And it's not ideal timing for Sanders.
He isn't practicing Monday as he deals with his oblique strain, coach Kevin Stefanski told reporters. "They'll see how he's doing tomorrow," beat reporter Mary Kay Cabot wrote on X.
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Sanders has been fighting an uphill climb since he was chosen No. 144 overall (in the fifth round) in April's NFL Draft.
He was a star at Colorado, but his unexpected draft free fall put him behind even fellow rookie Dillon Gabriel, who the Browns chose exactly 50 picks earlier.
Sanders has said the right things and done the right things since arriving at training camp. And in the preseason opener, he was sharp and impressed a lot of onlookers.
But then he hurt his oblique, and he couldn't play in the second preseason game.
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Gabriel got the start in that one, and he was mostly on point, although he threw a disastrous pick-six and was charged with a lost fumble on a misplayed handoff.
It's not clear yet how the Browns plan to end this saga. Will there be three or four QBs on the final roster? It remains to be seen.
But Sanders' best chance of getting where he wants to go is to be on the field and prove himself again. To do that, he's going to need his oblique to heal up in a hurry.
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