Browns GM addresses Shedeur Sanders’ status as QB1

The Cleveland Browns are not prepared to give Shedeur Sanders the keys to the kingdom just yet.

The Browns named Sanders the team’s starting quarterback for the last seven games of the 2025 season. With last year’s Week 1 starter, Joe Flacco, no longer with the team, some have wondered whether Sanders would keep the title heading into his second NFL season.

Browns general manager Andrew Berry was not ready to go that far. Speaking to reporters Tuesday at the NFL combine, he was non-committal when asked which QB had the edge for the Browns’ starting job: Sanders or Deshaun Watson.

“We don’t have to make that decision anytime soon,” Berry told reporters, via ESPN’s Daniel Oyefusi. “I think any player that we have in that room we would expect to compete to earn a role. Those two would be no different.”

Berry stated that he was encouraged by Sanders’ growth as the season progressed, as the Colorado shook off a disastrous NFL debut in Week 11 to close the year with back-to-back wins.

Berry also noted that Watson has been “working his tail off” to come back from his second torn Achilles suffered during rehab last January. The Browns executive did not rule out the possibility of adding another veteran passer to provide insurance behind Sanders, the recovering Watson, and second-year QB Dillon Gabriel.

The Browns’ QB situation was messy coming into last season. That doesn’t seem likely to change heading into Sanders’ second NFL season.