Shedeur Sanders believed to be heading toward starting QB job

As the QB4 on the most recent depth chart, Shedeur Sanders will not jump to becoming the Cleveland Browns starter following his impressive performance against the Carolina Panthers on Friday night.

However, the fifth-round pick is trending toward moving up the depth chart this summer after going 14-of-23 passing for 138 yards and two touchdowns against the Panthers.

Per Mary Kay Cabot of Cleveland.com, Sanders is "likely" going to become the Browns' starter at some point in the upcoming season.

"Depending on who’s healthy, the veterans might still get the bulk of work with the ones in the joint practices, while the rookies split the game," Cabot wrote of the Browns' next preseason game against the Philadelphia Eagles on Saturday. "It will be another chance for Sanders to knock the Browns’ socks off, and keep himself alive in the race.

"But it will still be tough for him to be ready to start less than a month from now when he has yet to throw his first pass to Jerry Jeudy or Cedric Tillman, or take a snap from starting center Ethan Pocic. He’s building up to that, and it will likely happen at some point this season, but the Browns have a veteran ready to step in and hold down the fort, and there’s no rush to start the rookies before they’re ready."

The Browns kept Sanders away from the first-team unit during OTAs in training camp while he got caught up with pre-snap procedures. Per Cabot, the next step for Sanders is to become adjusted to the speed of the NFL game. 

In order to do so, he'll have to face tougher opponents than the Panthers in the preseason.

"The defenders are so much bigger and faster at this level, he might not be able to pull off some of the same off-schedule plays he did at Colorado, at least not yet," Cabot wrote. "He’s coming fast up the learning curve, but facing backups for most of a preseason game is different than opposing a Ravens defense or the top-five units of the Packers and Jets."

It's unclear what timeline Cabot believes the Browns will have for Sanders to adjust to the league before he earns playing time on Sunday during the regular season.

However, it seems more likely than not that the Browns want to see if Sanders has what it takes to be a starter in the league before they consider taking a quarterback in the 2026 draft. (Cabot didn't write the same about third-round pick Dillon Gabriel.)

Sanders showed that he has the arm talent to play the position at the NFL level. But the decision-making process is the hard part to master and the reason why Joe Flacco is a safe bet for the Browns until head coach Kevin Stefanski thinks Sanders is ready.