The Cleveland Browns’ quarterback battle is arguably the biggest story going on in the NFL. The team has four healthy signal-callers competing at organized team activities (OTAs), highlighted by fifth-round pick Shedeur Sanders.
Sanders has been under a microscope since arriving in Cleveland, and a recent narrative has surfaced that he wasn’t getting 11-on-11 reps.
Shedeur Sanders’ OTA Performance
Cleveland’s offense was historically bad last season. They finished 32nd in PFSN’s Offense+ metric. Deshaun Watson started the team’s first seven games, throwing for 1,148 yards, five touchdowns, and three interceptions before tearing his Achilles and finishing last in PFSN’s QB+ metric.
Jameis Winston was exciting to watch, but nothing worked for the Browns offensively last season. It’s unclear if Watson will play at all in 2025, and the team made wholesale changes to its quarterback room this offseason. The Browns traded for Kenny Pickett, signed Joe Flacco, and drafted both Dillon Gabriel and Sanders.
Sanders endured arguably the most precipitous fall in NFL Draft history after balling out in his final college season at Colorado. He threw for 4,134 yards and 37 touchdowns last season, but dropped to the fifth round because of how he and his team handled the pre-draft process.
The Colorado product has been working as QB4 through Cleveland’s OTAs and was held out of 11-on-11 drills that were open to the media. This created the narrative that Sanders wasn’t getting a fair shot to prove himself.
Browns beat writer Mary Kay Cabot recently wrote about Sanders’ OTA performance and how he has been getting full team reps once the media left practice. Cabot wrote, “A lot was made of Browns rookie quarterback Shedeur Sanders not getting any 11-on-11 reps when organized team activities were open to the media last week, but coach Kevin Stefanski revealed he did get some during the two closed sessions.
“Furthermore, he’ll participate in the coveted team drills this week when the four-way quarterback competition is on display again to the media on Wednesday, [June 3].” She quoted the head coach, who said, “Yes, and I would say there’s a lot of work that gets done when you guys aren’t out there, believe it or not.”
Cabot referenced a graphic that was posted by a local Cleveland radio station charting the four quarterbacks’ performances for one day of practice. Sanders had the best day of the four, but Cabot pointed out that his reps were only during 7-on-7 sessions.
She said, “But the stats weren’t an apples-to-apples comparison. Sanders’ numbers were based on his 7-on-7s against backups, while the other three participated in 11-on-11s. Gabriel only took three such team snaps, but the graphic went viral on social media, with Sanders being widely referenced as the leader in the clubhouse based on the results.”
The narrative that Sanders has performed the best of the four quarterbacks could change once Sanders takes full team snaps in front of the media. There’s still a lot of time before Stefanski and the Browns have to make a starting quarterback decision, but the battle will be must-watch throughout the preseason.