Browns Reportedly Plan to Sit Shedeur Sanders in Rookie Season While Backing Joe Flacco

Shedeur Sanders fans have to wait a while to see his regular-season debut for the Cleveland Browns. According to a recent report from The Athletic’s Dianna Russini, the Browns view Sanders as a long-term project with the potential to be a future starter for the club.

The Cincinnati Bengals are waiting to play the Browns on Sunday, days after the Philadelphia Eagles kicked off the 2025 season by defeating the Dallas Cowboys. A day later, the Kansas City Chiefs lost to their AFC West rivals, the Los Angeles Chargers, in Brazil.

Now the focus shifts to the Browns, who for the better part of the offseason battled over choosing their quarterback for the Bengals game.

Veterans Joe Flacco and Kenny Pickett led the charts as one and two, followed by rookies Dillon Gabriel and Shedeur Sanders. Despite being drafted after Gabriel, Sanders had the fan support for the starting job.

Head coach Kevin Stefanski had zero reservations about keeping all four quarterbacks, but scenarios elsewhere forced his hand. The Browns gave away Pickett to the Las Vegas Raiders, leaving Gabriel and Sanders to fight for the QB2 spot behind Flacco.

Dianna Russini, in her latest article on The Athletic, revealed that the Browns promoted Gabriel as Flacco’s backup for the season and benched Sanders to continue his development process.

Don’t plan on seeing the fifth-round pick 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.

A rumor circulated for a long time that Sanders wasn’t on the Browns’ radar in April until the owners told the front office to draft the Colorado U graduate. Russini quashed that theory.

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.