The Cleveland Browns have seen a lot of both quarterbacks they drafted in 2025, Dillon Gabriel and Shedeur Sanders, but is either one the future for the franchise?
And if not, what are the Browns’ options in the 2026 NFL Draft? Let’s dive into the discussion.
Should the Browns Build Around Shedeur Sanders or Reset at QB in 2026 NFL Draft?
There’s no sense in wasting time recapping the Browns’ many QB woes over the past two decades. At this point, the franchise’s inability to find a long-term solution at the most important position in team sports in all too well known.
In the aftermath of the Browns’ trade for Deshaun Watson and Watson’s subsequent Achilles injury, the Browns drafted two quarterbacks in the 2025 NFL Draft, on the heels of heavy offseason speculation: Dillon Gabriel in Round 3, and Shedeur Sanders in Round 5.
Fast forward to today, and Gabriel has started six games, while Sanders has started four. And both rookie QBs have bottom-four PFSN QB Impact grades in the entire league.
Sanders sits at fourth worst in the league with a PFSN QBi score of 57.9, while Gabriel sits at second worst in the league with a score of 51.7, situated above only Cincinnati Bengals backup Jake Browning. If you’re looking for proof the Browns need a QB in 2026, that’s part of it.
Interestingly, the outcome thus far for each QB hasn’t been all too unexpected. Though Gabriel was drafted in Round 3, he had Day 3 grades from most evaluators, and he was commonly viewed as an NFL backup at best. His low-upside game management has only confirmed that.
We know what Gabriel is. He’ll stick around in QB rooms and provide depth, but for a franchise in search of “the answer”, he’s not a part of the conversation.
Sanders’ outcome, however, was less clear from the jump. Some felt he had the talent of a Day 2 passer, but he fell after a poor pre-draft process. Gabriel got the initial nod among the two rookies, but a concussion suffered by Gabriel thrust Sanders into the starting role. Sanders has kept it since.
The highs with Sanders have been much higher than with Gabriel, but the lows have been just as devastating, and have often snowballed in single weeks.
To this point, Sanders has completed 72 of 138 attempts (52.2%) for 946 yards, five touchdowns, and six interceptions, and he’s been sacked 13 times. He inspired hope with a 361-yard, three-touchdown showing against the lowly Titans in Week 14, but that was followed by a three-interception debacle against the Bears a week later.
On film, it’s largely been the same story for Sanders as it was on his college tape, except the margin for error is now smaller for a non-elite physical talent at QB who doesn’t have the elite operational skill set to compensate.
Talent-wise, Sanders reminded me of Brock Purdy coming out: An above-average athlete with decent, though not elite, creativity and arm talent. He had good pre-snap discernment skills, but his pocket depth discipline and timing needed work, and his post-snap processing was inconsistent at times, leading to late throws and bad sacks.
In the NFL, Sanders’ operational volatility has yielded a similar volatility with results. Against the Titans, he looked off a safety for a touchdown and stood tall at the top of his drop. One of his interceptions against Chicago was, in truth, a good play in which he held the single-high safety, only for Jerry Jeudy to give up the ball.
However, the highs have too often been marred by those familiar lows: The ill-timed sacks, the frozen reads, the toesy, chaos-inducing backward drift, and the forced throws working from behind.
Sanders still has three games to prove himself, but with the combined pre-draft evaluation and post-draft sample we have on him, my opinion is: He has not distinguished himself as the long-term answer for the Browns yet.
Could that change over the final three games? Perhaps, if Sanders strings together good games. But the Browns are set to pick the top four, with the ammunition to trade up for a true blue-chip QB if they need to, and if the Titans or Giants hold the first overall pick.
So the question isn’t simply if Sanders is the solution or not. The question is: Has Sanders played well enough to dissuade the Browns from picking Fernando Mendoza or Dante Moore? The answer is no.
The Browns should still have eyes on Mendoza and Moore as the top QB options in the 2026 NFL Draft, but what does each signal caller bring to the table?
Fernando Mendoza and Dante Moore Stand Out in 2026 NFL Draft QB Class
Mendoza began the regular season as a legitimate QB1 candidate in an uncertain QB class, and he’s somehow delivered tenfold on expectations, morphing into a QB1 favorite alongside Moore.
Through the Big Ten Championship, he’s thrown for 2,980 yards, 33 touchdowns, and just six interceptions in seven games. He has the second-highest PFSN QBi score in the PFSN CFB QBi database with a mark of 93.2, and he has the Indiana Hoosiers situated as the first overall seed in the CFB Playoffs.
READ MORE:Â 2026 3-Round NFL Mock Draft: Browns Build Around Shedeur Sanders, While 4 Ohio State Stars Go Early
At 6’5″, 225 pounds, Mendoza has the prototypical frame, along with the requisite athleticism to create when needed. But ultimately, he depends on his passing ability first, and it’s easy to see why.
Mendoza has stellar pocket depth discipline and navigation ability, he’s a quick processor who stays on schedule and recognizes early opportunities and hot reads, he can deliver throws with sharp situational precision, and he has the rifle arm to drive high-level velocity to his targets and hit tight windows before they close.
Mendoza isn’t nearly as consistent operating on the move, particularly rolling to his left against his dominant hand, and every now and then, arm arrogance gets the best of him. But overall, he’s a real QB1 contender worthy of “first overall pick” status for a QB-needy team. He has all of the physical and intangible qualities to be an elite multi-level thrower in the NFL and a franchise QB in the mold of Carson Palmer.
Moore, meanwhile, is an equally viable QB1 candidate in the 2026 NFL Draft, though it’s not as much of a guarantee that he declares. If Oregon makes a run in the CFB Playoffs, his declaration is more likely, and he has plenty of reason to strike while the iron is hot.
At 6’3″, 208 pounds, Moore has nimble athleticism, easy arm talent and velocity generation, effortless layering ability, accuracy, and an efficient distributing mentality.
Especially for such a young QB, Moore is incredibly quick and composed as a coverage dissector. He almost always knows where to go with the ball, and he’s a smooth operator both in-structure and working off-platform on the move.
So many aspects of Moore’s game, from his physical framework to his adherence to pocket play over creation, to his age-defying field vision, are reminiscent of 2023 second overall pick C.J. Stroud, and Moore has the ability to make a similar impact as a franchise QB.
