Shedeur Sanders just moved up the Cleveland Browns’ quarterback depth chart on Monday without doing anything.
According to multiple reports, the Browns traded backup quarterback Kenny Pickett to the Las Vegas Raiders on Monday evening. The news comes two days after Raiders backup Aidan O’Connell fractured his wrist and one day after Cleveland cut quarterback Tyler “Snoop” Huntley.
The Browns’ trade of Pickett trims the team’s quarterbacks room to just three players after months-long speculation that Cleveland might keep four gunslingers on their active roster.
Here’s how the Browns’ quarterbacks depth chart looks now with just three quarterbacks remaining and just one veteran left standing:
Browns QB depth chart
- Joe Flacco
- Dillon Gabriel
- Shedeur Sanders
- Deshaun Watson (injured)
Browns head coach Kevin Stefanski named 18-year veteran Joe Flacco the team’s Week 1 starter before Cleveland’s preseason finale against the Rams. Flacco is back in “The Land” for a second stint after he took over late in the 2023 season and led the Browns to a playoff appearance.
Gabriel and Sanders are the two rookies that battled for the Browns’ backup spot on the roster all throughout training camp. Gabriel was a third-round pick in the 2025 NFL Draft, and Cleveland drafted Sanders two rounds later. Between the two, Gabriel had the more consistent performance in his two preseason outings.
Watson suffered a season-ending Achilles tear in Week 7 last year. In January, the Browns announced that the veteran underwent another surgery to repair the tendon after he had re-ruptured it during his recovery from the initial procedure.
Why isn’t Shedeur Sanders starting for the Browns?
Sanders received more fanfare than any of the participants in Cleveland’s quarterback competition during the 2025 NFL offseason. That said, the fifth-round rookie was always facing an uphill battle to emerge as a Week 1 starter.
Sanders was routinely listed as the No. 4 option on Cleveland’s depth chart during the 2025 NFL offseason. He was behind Flacco, Kenny Pickett and fellow rookie Gabriel, meaning he had to make up ground to get into the starting quarterback race.
Sanders took advantage of the opportunity presented to him in preseason Week 1, when Flacco, Pickett and Gabriel were all out of action. That allowed the Colorado product to play the bulk of the game and complete 14 of 23 passes for 138 yards and two touchdowns in a 30-10 Browns victory over the Carolina Panthers.
However, Sanders was unable to build on that momentum in preseason Week 2. He suffered an oblique injury in practice and was held out of the team’s game against the Philadelphia Eagles. He followed up with a forgettable performance in preseason Week 3 vs. the Rams.
As such, Sanders simply ran out of time to state his case to climb the quarterback depth chart. That prevented him from emerging as a true challenger to Flacco. The Pickett trade should provide him an opportunity to climb the team’s depth chart, but he will still have to leap at least two passers ahead of him in order to get to the starting position.
