Shedeur Sanders Best in Cleveland Browns Quarterback Room?

Cleveland sports show co-host Tony Rizzo was asked about Shedeur Sanders’s performance so far in Browns camp. 

“I got a text from an ESPN Cleveland employee that said Shedeur looked like the best quarterback in camp,” Rizzo said. 

Sanders has been taking reps with three of the four other Browns quarterbacks the past few weeks. The only quarterback on the Browns roster that hasn’t been partaking is Deshaun Watson. Watson suffered a torn achilles last season and his return for next season is still up in the air. 

Sanders has currently been splitting reps with Gabriel, Flacco, and Pickett. 

Who Will Be the Starting Quarterback in Week One?

Even if one of the rookies (Sanders or Gabriel) perform well through training camp, it is still possible neither one of them win the starting job for the Browns opening game on Sept. 7 against the Cincinnati Bengals. 

The Browns are coming off of a 3-14 2024 season. In the 2025 NFL Draft, Gabriel was selected in the third round and Sanders in the fifth. Would Browns coach Kevin Stefanski throw one of these rookies into the fire immediately instead of letting a veteran like Joe Flacco begin the season as the starter? 

Recent Cleveland Browns Quarterback History

The quarterback position for the Cleveland Browns has a been a question mark even since the franchise was reborn in 1999. Since then, the Browns have had an astonishing 40 different quarterbacks that have started a game for them. It has been a constant turnstile for a quarterback century. 

It looked as if the Browns had that quarterback question finally answered after they select Baker Mayfield No. 1 overall in the 2018 NFL Draft. In his third season as starter, Mayfield helped lead the Browns to the playoffs and a Wild Card round win over the division rival Pittsburgh Steelers. After that season, things began to fall apart.

Mayfield battled through numerous injuries and it clearly affected his play as he and the Browns could never get to where they were in that playoff season. Mayfield ended up in short stops with the Carolina Panthers and Los Angeles Rams before he signed with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers prior to the 2023 season. 

Since coming to Tampa Bay, Mayfield has led the Buccaneers to the playoffs multiple times and has proven to be a very good starting quarterback in the NFL. Meanwhile in Cleveland, the Browns are still searching for their answer.