Analyst Says 'Shedeur Sanders Is Very, Very, Very Clearly 4th on the Cleveland QB Depth Chart' After Observing Day 2 First-Team Reps

The dog days of summer are generally a downtime for the NFL and its fanbase, but not when there’s a QB battle going on. And say what you will about the Cleveland Browns as an organization (a lot can be said), but the four-man competition for their starting QB job is as intriguing a prospect as an NFL fan could ask for in May and June.

The hopefuls are: 40-year-old Joe Flacco, 2022 first-round pick Kenny Pickett, 2025 third-rounder Dillon Gabriel, and polarizing 2025 fifth-rounder Shedeur Sanders. With Browns organized team activities (OTAs) getting underway this week, we’re finally getting a sense of the pecking order.

Head coach Kevin Stefanski explicitly told the media not to look too much into the distribution of reps between his four horsemen during the spring and summer. But, as you might imagine, after the first day of OTAs, there are a lot of opinions being thrown around.

Sanders is by far the biggest draw, so of course analysis was focused on him. And after finishing as the only one of the four not to receive first-team reps, the anti-Shedeur agenda has once again left the station. The Athletic Browns columnist Jason Lloyd said that Sanders is “clearly” on the bottom rung right now.

“Shedeur is very clearly fourth on the depth chart. Very, very, very clearly fourth on the depth chart. And he’s got plenty of time; that could change. But he’s the only quarterback that didn’t get any reps with the starters when they went 11-on-11. … I kept saying, ‘I can’t believe it!’, and [Browns beat writer] Zac [Jackson]’s like, ‘Well, he’s the fourth quarterback, it’s not that shocking,'” Lloyd said.

It was an interesting change of stance from The Athletic’s lead Browns reporter, Zac Jackson, who said after rookie minicamp that it was “not close” in terms of who threw a better ball between Sanders and Gabriel. But, as Lloyd pointed out, this is a very unique scenario.

“Because of the setup of this camp, and because this is unorthodox, all this spring and summer is gonna be different. They’re running 11-on-11s on two fields next to each other. Zac’s like, ‘I haven’t seen that in 25 years.’ … And so Shedeur was running with the guys who aren’t gonna be here in September. And so they had two veterans on one field and the two rookies on the other.”

The panel went on to praise Joe Flacco far more than any of the other combatants. And that makes sense. He’s had the most experience and success in the league. And perhaps most importantly, he played in Kevin Stefanski’s Browns offense in 2023.

However, this is a Browns team looking to rebuild, not win now. You don’t rebuild with the aim of a 40-year-old starting the entire season. Flacco is likely to start in Week 1, but by midseason, a rookie should take over. And Keyshawn Johnson, among many others, believes Shedeur will leapfrog the three guys in front of him to be that guy.

“I am confident that it is going to be Shedeur, I don’t know when though. I don’t know if it’s the start of the season or three, four, or five games into the season, but before they get to the midseason mark, he’s going to be the starting quarterback and taking the reps.”

There aren’t many depth charts out there for the Browns, but the ones that do exist actually have Pickett listed as the QB2 behind the injured Deshaun Watson. The Browns will likely do everything in their power to keep Watson off the field, so it seems Pickett is the de facto starter for now. At least according to ESPN and CBS.

For those with a betting interest in the race, Flacco continues to sit atop the pile as the -110 odds favorite. Kenny Pickett follows at +225, Sanders follows at +400, and Gabriel brings up the rear at +1,000.