Shedeur

Sanders

Sanders led the Browns to an eight-play, 69-yard touchdown drive on the team’s opening possession, and capped the drive with a 13-yard pass to Harold Fannin on a bootleg. The rookie QB would be intercepted on the Browns’ second drive after a pass bounced off Quinshon Judkins’ hands and into the arms of Jordan Poyer. and threw a second interception to start the third quarter on a ball that was batted at the line of scrimmage. The Bills defense appeared more than willing to give Sanders all of the underneath looks in this one. His 157 yards was made up almost entirely from yards after the catch, as he finished the day with just 54 total air yards, per TruMedia, and a 0.8 ADOT on his completed passes. Sanders had multiple chances to lead the Browns on a game wining drive, but on his final attempt, an eight-yard sack followed by a 14-yard loss on an intentional grounding snuffed out any hopes of a rally. Sanders will be a low-end QB2 in Week 17’s game against the Steelers.

Sanders missed only one offensive play while in the locker room. The injury to the pinky finger on his throwing hand didn’t look great, but he was seen with a bandage/sleeve on his finger and was back to start the following drive for the Browns.

Sanders left the field as the Browns were driving in the red zone, but this time it wasn’t by design. The rookie quarterback could be seen with a visible cut on the pinky finger of his throwing hand, and was being escorted from the field by trainers. Dillon Gabriel entered on the following play and immediately took a sack. Will report when we receive more information on Sanders’ status.

While Sanders’ line looks ugly, he’s also not getting much help from the rest of the offense. The 23-year-old quarterback was sacked five times and had a touchdown bounce off Jerry Jeudy’s hands for an interception in the third quarter. It’s been a mixed bag for Sanders after four starts. He’s just a QB2 option for desperate managers in super flex formats against the Bills in Week 16.

Speaking Monday, Stefanski said Sanders “has constantly and consistently gotten better” while adding that he feels “good about where his development is heading.” Sanders threw for a career-high 364 yards and three touchdowns in Week 14’s loss to the Titans, and nearly led the Browns to a comeback after trailing by 14 points with just over six minutes left in the game. Through four games, three of which are starts, Sanders has thrown for 769-5-3 while completing 52.4 percent of his passes. While he hasn’t looked like the first-round talent many expected to see, Sanders has shown plenty of flashes to warrant a longer look after Dillon Gabriel offered up nine games of ultra-conservative play.

Everyone will be ready with calm, rational takes after this one. The subject of some of the wildest internet debates in recent memory, Sanders hasn’t necessarily proven he’s “good,” but he has proven to be miles ahead of fellow Browns rookie Dillon Gabriel. In fact, his Titans performance was ahead of every Browns first-year quarterback ever, as he became the first Cleveland rookie to account for 300-plus passing yards, two-plus passing scores, and a rushing touchdown in the same game. As was the case the past few weeks, some of his yardage came on some marathon YAC jobs by his pass catchers, but his biggest throw was a 60-yard touchdown strike to Jerry Jeudy where Sanders hit his man on a crossing route. His other aerial scores were a lofted one-yarder to David Njoku in the end zone and a seven-yarder to Harold Fannin near the goal line. His rushing score also went for seven yards with the Browns trailing 31-17 in the fourth quarter. The Browns had a chance to tie the game at 31 on a two-point conversion with 1:03 remaining, but inexplicably took Sanders off the field in favor of a disastrous trick play. Again, Sanders still has a long ways to go, but he’s avoiding negative plays much more than expected and, unlike Gabriel, actually hitting some big ones. The Titans were a soft matchup, one that played prevent late, but Chicago is not a stay-away unit for Week 15. That being said, with all 32 teams active, Sanders will still be a borderline superflex threat because of his relative lack of rushing chops and ordinary skill corps.

Neither Shedeur Sanders nor Dillon Gabriel are having their practice reps taken by Watson. Jones believes it is “quite possible, if not likely,” Cleveland carries Watson on their 2026 roster as part of a quarterback competition — another huge four-quarterback battle is possible if one of Sanders or Gabriel is not traded. Jones goes on to call the Watson contract “unmovable” while noting that the Browns have two first-round picks and could trade up for another quarterback prospect in this year’s draft. The ol’ nothing is settled, but nothing is settled gambit. Watson has a realistic chance of actually playing next year, but whether he’ll be able to outperform Gabriel and Sanders after tearing his Achilles and playing horrible football for the Browns in 2023 is anyone’s guess.

Sanders was dinged up in the fourth quarter after being hit by two Niners defenders on an awkward slide. He was sacked three times on the day in an extremely conservative offensive approach full of designed checkdowns. Eleven of Sanders’ 16 completions were to tight ends and running backs — that wasn’t just a Dillon Gabriel feature. The Browns were calling screen passes down three scores in the fourth quarter, much to the home crowd’s chagrin. Sanders, who could start for the rest of the season as the team evaluates him, will be a superflex QB2 option in Week 14 against the Titans.

Schefter goes on to say, “But much of that decision will be dictated by how Sanders plays, starting Sunday.” Basically, the Browns want to see more of Sanders, unless he struggles. Then they reserve the right to pull the plug at any moment. Sanders made his first start last week, throwing for 209 yards, one touchdown, and one interception. Dillon Gabriel has already proven not to be the team’s quarterback of the future. There is no reason not to let Sanders get a crack at the job over the final two months of the season. Even if the team goes in a different direction in the offseason, Sanders could play himself into a long-term backup role for the Browns.

Shedeur was under center for the Browns’ third win of the season over the Raiders and helped generate a more vertical passing attack while throwing for 209-1-1 on 11-of-20 passing. Sanders’ two biggest throws of the day came on a beautifully thrown 52-yard bomb to Isaiah Bond in the first quarter, with his other coming on a 66-yard touchdown on a pass behind the line of scrimmage to Dylan Sampson. It was only going to be a matter of time before Sanders, who famously slid to the fifth-round of this year’s draft, got a chance to start. Now, the Browns will look to see if he’s their quarterback of the future over these next six weeks or another name added to a laundry list of QB1 hopefuls. Sanders shouldn’t be viewed as anything more than a low-end QB2 for this week’s game against the Niners.