Since the end of April, Shedeur Sanders has been on an arduous journey, but hhe finally has a legitimate chance to earn the starting job for the Cleveland Browns. A projected first-round pick, Sanders fell in one of the most shocking draft day slides in modern NFL history, as he was finally taken in the fifth round by the Browns with the No. 144 overall pick. Since then, he’s been battling for the Browns’ QB1 job.
With a former Super Bowl champion in Joe Flacco, a former first-round pick in Kenny Pickett, and another rookie taken 50 spots ahead of him in Dillon Gabriel, the work was certainly cut out for Sanders.
But now that he’s been named the official starter for the first week of preseason, his teammates are clearly excited to see what he can do.
Myles Garrett, Joe Flacco Share Words of Wisdom for Shedeur Sanders
After the draft, Sanders made it his mission to silence his many doubters. In the immediate aftermath, questions about his commitment and behavior during interviews were a major concern. However, slowly but steadily, he has worked to change how he is perceived.
While he is far from the finished product, ESPN Cleveland has been updating the statistics for each quarterback throughout the summer, including a detailed breakdown of their work through training camp.
By no means has Sanders been the best of the bunch. Moreover, a bunch of numbers without context isn’t an ideal breakdown of the current quarterback situation in Cleveland. However, the numbers have been helpful in establishing one basic premise: Sanders hasn’t looked out of place against NFL competition. The official numbers through nine training camp practices read as follows:
- Flacco has three touchdowns on 92 pass attempts with 54 completions
- Sanders has six touchdowns on 70 pass attempts with 49 completions
- Gabriel has four touchdowns against two interceptions on 113 pass attempts and 62 completions
- Pickett has three touchdowns against one interception on 34 pass attempts and 23 completions
Since Gabriel and Pickett are both dealing with hamstring injuries and Flacco is sitting out the preseason opener, head coach Kevin Stefanski decided to start Sanders in Cleveland’s first exhibition game against the Carolina Panthers. Understandably, there was a ton of hype surrounding the news.
Flacco, who is perhaps Sanders’ biggest competitor in the quarterback room and one of the team’s veteran leaders, spoke about what the rookie must be going through ahead of his debut.
“It’s something he’ll remember forever. Most of us have dreamt about this moment since we were five, six, seven, or eight years old,” Flacco said. “So for him to go out there and actually take the field, even if it’s preseason, we’re all going to be on the sidelines enjoying it.”
every guy dreams of his first NFL moment@joeflacco | @shedeursanders pic.twitter.com/9dxhraIPrP
— Cleveland Browns (@Browns) August 6, 2025
Browns superstar and former Defensive Player of the Year Myles Garrett also spoke about Sanders getting the start. Coming into the year with a record-breaking four-year, $160 million extension, Garrett had some immediate praise for Sanders based on what he’s seen so far.
excited to see how @shedeursanders handles the start on Friday pic.twitter.com/Hc4Ci4jn83
— Cleveland Browns (@Browns) August 6, 2025
“He’s funny, optimistic, light-hearted. But he works hard,” Garrett said of Sanders. “He takes it seriously. His craft and he’s watching what the others are doing, and doing it his own way, which only he can. So looking forward to seeing him go into this preseason game and how he manages the offense.”
Throughout the training camp, Sanders has been in a hard-fought battle to carve out a role on the roster. Even if it was Flacco’s age and the injury concerns for Pickett and Gabriel that got him this start, it’s still an excellent opportunity to show what he can do and prove his value to the team.
The right performance could be enough to open the door for Sanders to emerge as the starting quarterback at some point during the season.
