With how much the Cleveland Browns' quarterback room is filled with possible options to start this upcoming season, there could be some who feel that the veteran Joe Flacco will be the one under center to begin. However, with how sharp Browns rookie Shedeur Sanders has looked, plus others on the roster, it could be an open competition, as Albert Breer explains.
In his latest column for Sports Illustrated, Breer speaks about Cleveland and their quarterback unit and would speak on whether anybody is truly leading as QB1. Breer would end up saying that after “digging” on the topic, it is absolutely “wide open,” even if the expectation is that Flacco will get the first snap.
“The more digging I do into the Cleveland Browns’ quarterback situation, the more I think this thing is wide open,” Breer wrote. “Kevin Stefanski basically said as much during rookie minicamp. The likelihood is, when Cleveland gets to OTAs, that Joe Flacco will get the first snap. But even that, Stefanski added, isn’t all that relevant. After some thought on this, I’d believe him.”
Besides Flacco and Sanders, the team has another rookie in Dillon Gabriel and also former first-round pick Kenny Pickett as options to start with Deshaun Watson out for the upcoming season with injuries.
Browns double-dipped on rookie QBs, including Shedeur Sanders
Cleveland Browns quarterback Dillon Gabriel (5) passes as quarterback Shedeur Sanders (12) looks on during rookie minicamp at CrossCountry Mortgage Campus.
Ken Blaze-Imagn Images
While people are interested in the rookie battle with the Browns, specifically with Sanders and Gabriel, there are some still wondering why the team double-dipped on the position. Cleveland would take Gabriel out of Oregon in the third round while also taking Sanders in the fifth round, which was a steep drop from initial projections for the first round.
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Breer would note how Gabriel was excellent in the pre-draft process, and as for Sanders, he would speculate if that was a decision made by owner Jimmy Haslam.
“As for Shedeur Sanders, his selection, and the decision to double down on the position after taking Gabriel, reflects two things,” Breer wrote. “First, Sanders was, indeed, separated on the board from what else was available to the Browns at that point in the fifth round.”
“It’s certainly possible that in small-circle meetings between ownership, Stefanski, and GM Andrew Berry, owner Jimmy Haslam pushed for Sanders,” Breer continued. “I just don’t know that it happened. I do know the Browns thought Sanders was more than a fifth-rounder. And second is that this is an effort to throw everything possible at the quarterback position and see if something, anything, sticks.”
At any rate, it's anybody's opportunity for the Browns' starting job.
“Based on the investments, the Browns are dating all these guys, and not marrying any of them (yet),” Breer wrote. “Which, given the situation the Deshaun Watson trade put the brass in, isn’t the worst path to try to take out of a mess.”
Cleveland is looking to improve after last season, where they had a 3-14 record, which put them last in the AFC North.