Of all the quarterback rooms in the NFL, the Cleveland Browns’ remains ever-changing. Since selecting quarterback Tim Couch first overall in the 1999 NFL draft, the Browns have had 42 different quarterbacks start a game. Heading into the 2026 season, the Browns’ game of quarterback musical chairs isn’t ending, with 2025 fifth-round pick Shedeur Sanders rumored to be moved, but to where?
Cardinals Named as Landing Spot for Shedeur Sanders in Hypothetical Trade
In a trade shaking up Cleveland’s quarterback room, Bleacher Report’s Kristopher Knox put together a three-team deal between the Browns, New England Patriots, and Arizona Cardinals, in which Sanders gets shipped to Arizona, alongside wide receiver Kayshon Boutte and a 2027 fourth-round pick from Cleveland.
The Browns would reunite with quarterback Jacoby Brissett and receive a Patriots’ 2027 third-round pick, while the Patriots would end up with wide receiver Michael Wilson.
Explaining the trade, Knox believes adding Sanders to compete with rookie third-round pick Carson Beck is a better long-term option than the veteran Brissett, while replacing Wilson with Boutte, whose contract is also about to expire and may be cheaper to re-sign than Wilson.
For the Browns, he reasoned that bringing in a reliable bridge quarterback like Brissett could benefit the club, while adding a future pick to strengthen future draft assets, perhaps using it in a future trade-up scenario for a franchise quarterback.
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Lastly, for New England, bringing in Wilson creates a terrific receiving trio of Wilson, A.J. Brown, and Romeo Doubs, giving Drake Maye another solid and more consistent pass catcher than Boutte.
Three-team trades are exceptionally rare, with the last one occurring in 2010 between the Philadelphia Eagles, Detroit Lions, and Denver Broncos, though they aren’t impossible.
If this trade were to go through, it’s unlikely Browns fans would be happy, as there were only two bright spots in Cleveland last season. One was Myles Garrett breaking the all-time single-season sack record with 23, and the other was the hype around Sanders.
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Garrett was dealt to the Los Angeles Rams weeks ago, stripping fans of their franchise cornerstone. Sanders, who, according to PFSN’s QB Impact Metric, posted an impact score of 56.7, ranking third-worst in the league, wasn’t amazing last year, but showed some promise and won the last two games of the season.
Now that the front office has upgraded the offense, spending first- and second-round picks on receivers KC Concepcion and Denzel Boston, respectively, it would be a letdown even outside of Cleveland to not see what Sanders could accomplish with superior talent around him.
As it stands now, Sanders is still competing with veteran Deshaun Watson for the starting job.
Fans and media may have to wait until the preseason to find out whether Sanders will be sitting behind Watson or starting, whether in Cleveland or elsewhere.
