Browns Update Spells Bad News for Shedeur Sanders Amid QB Competition

Originally posted on Athlon Sports | By Malik Brown | Last updated Aug 5, 2025 7:42 PM ET

As the Browns continue their QB competition, there seems to be a presumed favorite as of now, and it's not Shedeur Sanders.

The Cleveland Browns have been competing in training camp, and that's what you want from a team that didn't have much success last season. They are looking to turn things around, and the hope is that they will be better on both sides of the ball with some of the upgrades that they made during the draft and in free agency.

One of the areas everyone is looking at is quarterback, where there has been a constant battle of who will be the starter on Week 1. Joe Flacco, Kenny Pickett, Dillon Gabriel, and Shedeur Sanders are all trying to do their best in practice so they can win the starting job.

Sanders has been the quarterback everyone has focused on due to his hype coming into the league. Unfortunately, it looks like as of now he won't be the favorite to start Week 1. Instead, it seems as if Flacco may be the choice for the Browns, according to Zac Jackson of The Athletic.

"Pickett said he’s working '24-7' to get back to full speed but acknowledged he’s losing ground. Joe Flacco’s two best throwing days have been the two most recent days, Friday and Saturday," Jackson wrote. "Neither of the rookies ever had much of a realistic chance to win the starting job this August, and over the last week, Flacco has gone from presumed favorite to strong favorite.

"What always mattered most was finding the No. 1 — even if that status was going to be in flux at some point — and letting the folks in charge evaluate and decide on the rest of the depth chart and the room. There’s a lot of camp left, and there’s obviously a lot still to be settled with Pickett, Dillon Gabriel and Sanders."

Sanders is set to start in the Browns' first preseason game, as Gabriel and Pickett are dealing with injuries. If Sanders was going to find a way to prove that he deserves to be in the conversation for the starting position, it starts in that game.

This article first appeared on Athlon Sports and was syndicated with permission.

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