The Cleveland Browns only made it four weeks with aging Joe Flacco as the starting quarterback, and they needed a virtuoso performance on defense to even pull out one win from their first quartet of games. Shedeur Sanders might be a name with some buzz behind him, but he hasn't played a snap yet.
While the Browns did make a quarterback change, Sanders was not involved in this move. Head coach Kevin Stefanski announced that third-round pick Dillon Gabriel would start for Cleveland this week against the Minnesota Vikings.
If the Browns were going to essentially get Flacco out of town in the name of starting young players, Sanders would have a much clearer path to playing time. Instead, the depth chart still presents a very unfavorable look for Sanders' prospects of lasting in the NFL.
Even after the benching, Flacco will remain the backup on game day, with Sanders staying in the QB3 role, If Stefanski feels more confident in a 40-year-old struggling Flacco than Sanders, it seems very unlikely that there is a world in which Sanders is going to muscle his way into the lineup.
Shedeur Sanders may never play for Browns after QB3 designation
Sanders has suited up twice for the Browns, both of which came in the preseason. He threw two touchdowns in a very efficient performance against the Carolina Panthers, but was also sacked five times in a horror show of an effort against the Los Angeles Rams soon after.
Armed with two first-round picks, it seems as though Cleveland will likely use one of them to find a possible franchise quarterback as Gabriel settles in as the long-term backup. If Sanders sticks around, he is clearly behind Gabriel in the pecking order, which should not come as a surprise.
One has to see some irony in the fact that Sanders reportedly told two gold star organizations in the Philadelphia Eagles and Baltimore Ravens that he had no interest in going there because he didn't want to be a long-term backup. With Lamar Jackson to miss some time with an injury, Sanders would be in line to start in Baltimore right now.
While CBS's Jonathan Jones did hint that Sanders could eventually get into games far down the road if Cleveland is eliminated from the postseason, the idea of him ever jumping over Gabriel and playing well enough to convince the Browns to lean on him in 2026 seems unlikely.