The Cleveland Browns entered the 2025 season without a clear plan at quarterback, resulting in another last-place finish in the AFC North. After an entire season to evaluate the quarterbacks the team selected in the 2025 NFL Draft, Shedeur Sanders has been given clear directions on how to approach an upcoming position battle.
Cleveland GM Makes Path To QB1 Clear For Shedeur Sanders
Anyone who watched either Sanders or Dillon Gabriel under center for the 2025 Browns would come to the conclusion that there isn’t enough to hand either one the starting job for the 2026 campaign. While Joe Flacco brought some semblance of a veteran presence early in the year, he ended the season on the Cincinnati Bengals roster.
Speaking to the media at the 2026 NFL Combine, Browns GM Andrew Berry laid out some specific points for Sanders to focus on during the time leading up to camp.
Mary Kay Cabot of Cleveland.com posted Berry’s comments to X on Tuesday, with the GM saying, “I think the biggest thing that we want to see from Shedeur is just continued growth. I think he grew a lot from start 1 to start 7.”
Berry continued, stating that the team wants to see a balance from Sanders that means protecting the ball without hampering his natural abilities:
“I think certainly playing more efficiently and not putting the ball in harm’s way as much would be important, while maintaining the ability to produce out of structure and generate explosive plays.”
#Browns GM Andrew Berry on what Shedeur Sanders must show over the next few months to prove he can start from Day 1: pic.twitter.com/fX30qyXBCf
— Mary Kay Cabot (@MaryKayCabot) February 24, 2026
Berry added, “You’re not going to see all that in the upcoming months because we’re not on the field, so the biggest thing that he can do is learn the new offense, get in with the coaching staff once our offseason program starts, continue to work on his body physically and then make strides when we’re actually on the grass.”
Unless Cleveland brings in a surefire starter in free agency, it looks like the franchise is prepared for Sanders, Gabriel, and someone to be named later to fight it out for QB1 when practices begin again.
Sanders required coaching and stability right out of college, which the Browns aren’t known for providing. However, if this coaching staff can walk the line of giving Sanders athletic freedom while keeping him upright, there is a high-end talent that could emerge from the second-year passer.
Don’t discount the impact this has on Gabriel, who has watched Sanders get media attention as the norm, while he is the “also-ran” that gets talked about further in the press conference, if at all.
The Browns fanbase is desperate for a true franchise passer, and if either of the quarterbacks in that room wants a chance, Berry just gave them the blueprint.
