After the Myles Garrett saga in the offseason last year, the Cleveland Browns would have been hoping to put together a better season than they did. There were some highlights for sure, but the consensus around the team wasn’t overwhelmingly positive.
The biggest hurdle to their success was the quarterback position. Even with three different players giving it a shot, it didn’t seem like any of them had worked out for the franchise. However, right after the NFL Combine, it seems like Shedeur Sanders is increasing his chances of remaining the starter.
Shedeur Sanders Impressing Todd Monken for the Cleveland Browns
After a disappointing year, the biggest change for the Browns came in the form of Kevin Stefanski being removed from the head coaching job, which ultimately went to former Baltimore Ravens offensive coordinator Todd Monken.
Starting the season with veteran and former Super Bowl champion Joe Flacco as their starting quarterback, Cleveland could not get into a flow with him. On the other side of 40, a porous offensive line did not allow him to play at his best level.
As a result, Flacco was traded to the Cincinnati Bengals, while Dillon Gabriel, their third-round pick in the 2025 NFL Draft, took over as the starter. Unfortunately, his limitations were obvious from the jump, and he remained the starter for just five games.
Ranking as the second-worst player on PFSN’s QB Impact, it seemed clear that Gabriel wasn’t the guy. However, it was in a Week 10 divisional game against the Baltimore Ravens, where an injury to Gabriel allowed Sanders to sub in.
From that point forward, the second-generation star remained the team’s starting quarterback for the final seven games of the season. While there was obvious upside, he also had obvious flaws to overcome.
In that stretch, Sanders threw for 1,400 yards, recording just 7 passing touchdowns against 10 interceptions, while completing a disastrous 56.6% of his passes.
Sanders finished just ahead of Gabriel on QBi, but his 56.0 score was nowhere near the mark of an average, let alone good, starting quarterback in the NFL. As a result, his position as the starter moving forward wasn’t secure in the slightest.
But, less than two full months after the 2025 season came to a close for the Browns, there is some optimism for the son of Hall of Famer Deion Sanders. While not directly related to him, it involves one of the most promising names in the free agency market this year, Malik Willis.
As Jeremy Fowler and Dan Graziano of ESPN reported, “Expect at least two and possibly several teams to be involved on Willis. ‘Miami is definitely in,’ a source said. Arizona is combing the market, too, but it doesn’t seem likely that Willis will end up in Cleveland.”
After a strong run with the Green Bay Packers when Jordan Love was out with injuries this season, Willis is expected to get consideration from a lot of sources as a reclamation project in the lines of Sam Darnold and Baker Mayfield in recent years.
However, with Fowler and Graziano confirming that Cleveland isn’t in that pool, it could signal the new coaching regime’s belief in Sanders.
