The Cleveland Browns are looking to find a new head coach, and once the hiring finally occurs, Shedeur Sanders’ future will be hanging in the balance.
Zac Jackson of The Athletic recently wrote a piece detailing some of the key decisions the Browns will have to make this offseason, and finding a new quarterback may very well be one of them.
“Unless the new head coach and [Andrew] Berry believe Shedeur Sanders can use 2026 to really take off and become the team’s long-term starter, the Browns have to explore every possible quarterback scenario in the draft, free agency and potentially via trade,” Jackson wrote.
Cleveland selected Sanders in the fifth round of the NFL Draft last April. He began 2025 as the team’s third-string quarterback behind Joe Flacco and Dillon Gabriel, but following a Flacco trade, Sanders was moved up to No. 2 on the depth chart.
Sanders then eventually replaced Gabriel during the second half of the season and threw for 1,400 yards, seven touchdowns and 10 interceptions while completing 56.6 percent of his passes and posting a 68.1 passer rating.
To be fair to Sanders, the Browns had a plethora of issues with their offensive line, and they didn’t exactly present the young signal-caller with a bevy of weapons. But it’s not like Sanders looked all that impressive, either.
The new head coach may certainly want to explore other options under center, and that could include taking a quarterback in the NFL Draft.
Cleveland owns a pair of first-round picks (Nos. 6 and 24) this spring courtesy of last year’s trade with the Jacksonville Jaguars. The Browns could potentially select Alabama’s Ty Simpson or Ole Miss’ Trinidad Chambliss with the latter of those two Day 1 selections.
It’s also entirely possible that Cleveland trades down from No. 6 to acquire some more draft capital and then use one of those extra draft choices on one of the two aforementioned signal-callers.
We also cannot discount the possibility of the Browns attempting to find another veteran stopgap or maybe even pursuing a trade, although the latter scenario is definitely more complicated (not to mention more dangerous).
We’ll see what becomes of Sanders in the coming months.
