Cleveland.com’s Mary Kay Cabot continues to report on the Cleveland Browns’ training camp as the team looks to find its starting quarterback ahead of the 2025 season. The team still has the injured Deshaun Watson, but Joe Flacco, Kenny Pickett and new draft picks Dillon Gabriel and Shedeur Sanders make up the team’s quarterback room. With a big decision ahead of them, it’s been worth keeping an eye on each player’s progression in camp.
Shedeur Sanders is Climbing His Way Up the Depth Chart
Sanders is currently listed as QB4, which makes sense as he was drafted after Gabriel. Selected two rounds later, it should not be a surprise that the Colorado graduate is put behind three other QBs with experience in the league. While he may be dead last, the only place he can go is up as Sanders begins to climb the ladder.
“If Shedeur Sanders continues to progress in training camp like he has over the past two weeks, he’ll narrow the gap on the other three Browns quarterbacks in the competition,” Cabot said. “After a bit of a slow start in spring practices, Sanders has come on strong over the past two weeks with plenty of completions, touchdown passes and grasp of the scheme.”
“Granted, he’s still the fourth-team quarterback and has a long way to go,” Cabot added. “But he’s made significant strides during recent organized team activities and the mandatory minicamp, remaining alive in the competition.”
Making progress is all that matters as Sanders looks to prove that he should’ve never fallen to the fifth round. With Gabriel on the same team, the Browns selected two quarterbacks in the draft as they were shocked to see Sanders available at No. 144 overall. No one expected Sanders to fall as far as he did, which resulted in a minuscule four-year, $4.6 million deal.
While Gabriel’s contract is $6.2 million over four years, that’s still a massive downgrade compared to No. 1 overall pick Cam Ward’s four-year, $48.7 million deal. Sanders has much to prove, and it seems like he’s off to a good start in camp. Despite the fact that there’s still plenty of time to rise or fall before the season, it’s clear that Sanders has made a solid first impression with the team.
After throwing for 4,134 yards in 2024, Sanders must take a backseat before he finds a starting job in the NFL. It’s not the route he expected to take, but Sanders has been getting quality reps in practice that will only increase his stock with the team.