Shedeur Sanders did enough in his first career start to retain the starting job for at least another week. 

Cleveland Browns head coach Kevin Stefanski announced his decision to stick with Sanders on his weekly Monday zoom press conference. It sets the stage for Sanders to make his second consecutive start against the San Francisco 49ers this coming Sunday. 

Stefanski also announced that fellow rookie Dillon Gabriel had officially cleared the concussion protocol. The third-round pick suffered the head injury during the Browns Week 11 loss to the Baltimore Ravens, paving the way for Sanders to take over at halftime of that game. 

Gabriel spent the week of practice that followed working his way through the league's concussion protocol, and returned to practice on Friday in a limited capacity. He was ultimately ruled out though, needing a few more days to be completely cleared. 

Against the Raiders, Sanders completed 11-of-20 passes for 209 yards, tossing an interception, but also his first career touchdown as well – a 66-yard screen pass to fellow rookie Dylan Sampson.

The fifth-round pick's most impressive play of the day came late in the first quarter when he was flushed from the pocket by some heavy pressure from the Raiders, rolled to his left and launched a beautiful pass to another rookie Isaiah Bond for 52 yards. That play set up the Browns second touchdown of the game, as they jumped out to a 14-0 lead one play later. 

Additionally, the Browns offense produced the second highest point total of the season under Sanders, in Sunday's 24-10 win over Las Vegas. His ability to provide a spark for that unit while in a winning effort may have been the most important factor of all. He'll get a chance to continue what he started against the San Francisco 49ers next Sunday. 

Stefanski was asked on Monday if he was taking a week-to-week approach to the starting QB role, but was adamant that he's only focused on the week ahead. 

With six games remaining in the 2025 season, Sanders now has an opportunity to keep the job the rest of the way, and even potentially cement himself as the team's best option to start under center in 2026.