Shedeur Sanders receives immediate Browns boost after rival QB suffers major setback
The ongoing four-way quarterback battle at the Cleveland Browns has seemingly been reduced to a three-way battle, at least for the short term.
This comes after off season pickup Kenny Pickett, was understood to have suffered a hamstring injury near the end of a training camp practice on Saturday.
Browns QB suffers injury scare
According to ESPN senior insider Adam Schefter, the Browns are expected to re-evaluate Pickett’s injury later this week.
With the former first-round pick, who was the back-up to Jalen Hurts as the Philadelphia Eagles steamrollered the Kansas City Chiefs to win Super Bowl LIX in February, unable to take to the field, the rookie battle is on.
The expectation is that there will now be more reps spread between veteran Joe Flacco, and the two picks from April’s NFL Draft, Dillon Gabriel and Shedeur Sanders.
Sanders – son of NFL legend Deion, who is currently going through a bout of ill health – is likely to benefit most with the former Colorado Buffaloes standout’s chances of not just making the Browns’ 53-man roster, but also being given an opportunity to take to an NFL field on the up.
As it currently stands, the general consensus is that, with 18 years of NFL experience, Flacco will be the man to start Week 1 under center for the Browns.
There is also an element of ‘Flacco Fever’ in and around Cleveland with the 40-year-old having led the Browns to just their second postseason appearance since 2002, seeing him receive critical acclaim from both the fans and the NFL as he won the 2023 Comeback Player of the Year award.
But neither rookie can be written off yet either, with both Gabriel and Sanders beginning to ramp up the heat in their pursuit of toppling the veterans in training camp.
Browns don’t yet have a standout franchise quarterback
With none of the quarterbacks at the Browns’ disposal having yet been giving the ‘franchise quarterback’ label, the competition will be one that goes on long into training camp and pre-season.
After a training camp practice last week, Gabriel spoke of his fellow rookie, and how the two’s relationship is building in the quarterback room.
“It’s good. I think there’s a bunch of ways to do it and we’ve just been doing it by being ourselves,” former Oregon Ducks star Gabriel said, via Sports Illustrated.
“It’s been a lot of fun that way. We have a fun room and there’s a bunch of diversity in a lot of ways, and we use that to our advantage.”
So far through the first week of training camp, Gabriel has already been given some reps with the first-team, joining Flacco and Pickett – before his injury – which is something Sanders has yet to be awarded the opportunity to try.
As a result, it has been argued that head coach Kevin Stefanski’s mind is clear over who comes where on the depth chart, and his early handling of his players could yet offer some clarity over what may transpire over the course of training camp as the coaching staff begin whittling down their final 53-man roster.
According to Locked On Browns podcast host Spencer German, Gabriel is very much in the mix to be Cleveland’s starting quarterback.
“It’s a depth chart that looks like a 1A and 1B being Joe Flacco and Kenny Pickett,” German said.
“Dillon Gabriel [is] that next in line, and Shedeur Sanders being sort of the man bringing up the rear here in this quarterback depth chart right now. That’s the way that they’ve sort of established the order of things going back to the spring.
“Shedeur Sanders remains the only guy who hasn’t taken first-team reps. I’ve talked about that a number of times, and that continued on Day 4.
“But I think where we started to see some real clarity—or some real, you know, get a sense of where things really stand—is where they’ve actually shown you some separation.”
Gabriel has impressed those around the Browns organization due to his ability to process information quickly, as well as his decision-making skills.
For Sanders, though, the fifth-rounder got off to a shaky start in training camp, with some criticising his throwing technique.
However, the 23-year-old has since begun to gain more and more confidence, which has translated into his on-field performances, with him having registered the highest pass completion percentage (72.7 percent) of any of the four quarterbacks on day four of team drills.
Training camp statistics are to be taken with a pinch of salt, though, with former NFL defensive end J.J. Watt calling them ‘insane and ridiculous.’
Nonetheless, with Pickett’s absence, Sanders may now see some first-team reps, and only then, will we really be able to grasp whether he possesses the skillset to make it at the top level, and in turn, whether the Browns may have got one of the steals of the 2025 draft.
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