Shedeur Sanders was expected to be a first-round pick in the 2025 NFL Draft, but he ended up sliding all the way to the fifth round. Sanders was picked up by the Cleveland Browns, who now have a very interesting quarterback room. Sanders, Joe Flacco, Kenny Pickett and Dillon Gabriel will be competing for the starting job while Deshaun Watson recovers from an injury. Gabriel is the other QB that the Browns selected in this year's NFL Draft as he was a third-round pick.
The Browns should have a tight competition between these four QBs. Shedeur Sanders recently noted that there is a narrative going around about some drama in the QB room, but he shot those claims down.
“Everybody’s cool in the room,” Sanders said while talking to Kay Adams. “Outside the room, people try to pit us against each other, but, inside the room, we know we’re one.”
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There are a lot of differences between all of these players. Flacco and Watson have both been in the NFL for a long time, and then there's the two rookies, Sanders and Gabriel. Mixed in the middle is Pickett, who has been in the league for three seasons now.
“We're all different characters,” Sanders said. “It's funny going there and seeing Joe [Flacco] every day. It's funny seeing him because I'm like, ‘Wow, I'm really with Joe Flacco right now. We're on the same team!' So that's cool, and then of course with Kenny [Pickett], the experience that he has, being in the league for these years, it's cool seeing the process of it. And Deshaun [Watson], he's active in there, he's at all the meetings, so it's cool talking to him.”
Shedeur Sanders wasn't drafted until the fifth round, but there is still a decent chance that he wins this QB competition. He was one of the best QBs in college football last year, and a lot of people think that the reason for his draft slide had nothing to do with his actual skill and potential on the football field. Sanders has the tools to be a very successful QB in the NFL.
Scotty White serves as ClutchPoints' Chicago Bulls and Michigan Football reporter, in addition to covering NCAA Football and Basketball as an associate editor. Scotty is a graduate of the University of Michigan and has been in the sports journalism industry since 2020.
