The beginning of Shedeur Sanders’ NFL career has been anything but easy for the former Buffaloes quarterback. First, he slipped to the 144th pick in the draft, and second, he was selected by the Cleveland Browns-a team with a brutal quarterback battle for the starting role.
At least Sanders isn’t the only rookie in the QB room. That seemed like an upside at first, but being selected two rounds after his biggest rival, Dillon Gabriel, means he’ll have to outwork and outperform a player the team already viewed as the better option.
Gabriel over Sanders
Who Browns head coach Kevin Stefanski will select for the starting QB role is still the biggest question of the offseason. But it seems the battle between Sanders and Gabriel has been led from the start by the former Oregon quarterback.
NFL analyst Nick Wright believes that it’s Sanders who needs to beat Gabriel – not the other way around.
“The Browns valued Gabriel more,” Wright said on First Things First. “The Browns took him in the third round. They took Shedeur in the fifth round. With that said, and acknowledged, it’s a big problem for Shedeur if the answer to this question isn’t him. Neither one of these guys is going to break camp as the starter.”
Wright didn’t forget about the veteran QBs Joe Flacco and Kenny Pickett. On who will be QB1, he added:
“It’s going to be one of the veterans. If Shedeur wants a chance – if there’s going to be a chance for Shedeur to prove his believers right, prove his father right, prove himself right – his singular battle is to move ahead of Gabriel on the depth chart.”
As Wright points out, Sanders will first need to earn a spot on the Browns’ final roster, especially with Cleveland likely to keep only three quarterbacks on the team.
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