Cleveland Browns quarterback Shedeur Sanders will have to hold off Deshaun Watson for the starting job.
Getty
Cleveland Browns quarterback Shedeur Sanders will have to hold off Deshaun Watson for the starting job.
The Cleveland Browns appear prepared to enter the preseason with Sheduer Sanders as their QB1, but a couple of trade options who might challenge him for that job have surfaced in recent days.
Zac Jackson of The Athletic authored a report earlier this week on the status of the position group, which is currently comprised of Sanders, Deshaun Watson and Dillon Gabriel.
“With the formal offseason program still three weeks away, there’s no certainty about the early depth chart or the team’s plans for its quarterback room,” Jackson wrote. “At this still-early point, it seems safe to say that Sanders has at least some runway toward being the starter.”
“Let’s save the wild takes and proclamations for what’s likely going to be an annual reboot of an open quarterback competition,” Jackson continued. “But let’s also pencil Sanders in as the most likely of the current group to take the race wire-to-wire.”
Just how comfortable new head coach Todd Monken is going to be with Sanders as his presumed QB1 heading into his first-ever season as an NFL head coach remains to be seen. But Sanders, while showing flashes at times last year, remains far from a home run to start in the league for the next decade or so.
It would be at least a little surprising if the Browns do not consider adding a young player to the mix, with Watson on the final year of his contract and Gabriel a potential trade candidate if Cleveland can find another youthful option, either via the draft or a trade.
One such player who may have just become available is quarterback JJ McCarthy of the Minnesota Vikings.
Vikings’ Signing of Carson Wentz Signals That JJ McCarthy Could Be on Trade Block
Carson Wentz
GettyMinnesota Vikings quarterback Carson Wentz.
At least one Vikings insider believes that Minnesota’s decisions to add veteran quarterbacks Kyler Murray and Carson Wentz ahead of March 20 means that McCarthy is destined for the QB3 spot come training camp.
“The Vikings have been attempting to tell everyone that Murray would compete for the job, and up to this point the assumption was that battle would be with J.J. McCarthy,” Judd Zulgad of SKOR North wrote Thursday. “That would leave Wentz as the No. 3 quarterback, and it’s difficult to believe he signed on March 19 to accept a role as the backup to the backup. It’s more likely that Murray will open training camp as the starter with Wentz behind him.”
If Murray is QB1 and Wentz is QB2, then it makes little sense for the Vikings to keep McCarthy around as QB3 heading into his age-23 campaign. McCarthy is also likely to want out if those are his circumstances after the team drafted him No. 10 overall two years ago and afforded him just 10 starts in his career before burying him on the depth chart.
History suggests that McCarthy could go for somewhere in the neighborhood of a fifth-round pick. The Browns own three of those — Nos. 141, 146 and 149 — next month.
Browns Can Buy Low on JJ McCarthy Via Trade With Vikings
J.J. McCarthy, Minnesota Vikings
GettyMinnesota Vikings quarterback JJ McCarthy.
McCarthy produced 1,632 yards, 11 TDs and 12 INTs and went 6-4 in 10 starts last season. Sanders posted a record of 3-4 in seven starts (eight games played) for 1,400 passing yards, seven TDs and 10 INTs.
Both have upside, while Gabriel is probably a QB2 in comparison based on his safer, but less dynamic, approach to the game.
If Cleveland could flip Gabriel for a late Day 3 pick, perhaps from the Atlanta Falcons where Kevin Stefanski is now the head coach, the Browns could get back a decent percentage of the draft value they would send out by flipping an early fifth-rounder to Minnesota for McCarthy.
McCarthy is entering the third season of a four-year, $22 million contract but would cost Cleveland less than $3 million in 2026 in base salary and bonuses combined.
That financial cost, plus a fifth-round pick, is a reasonable price for a recent top-10 selection who had a couple big moments last season and won’t turn 25 until after his rookie deal is up.