Rookie QB Shedeur Sanders dazzled in a loss to the Tennessee Titans, reigniting the Cleveland Browns' eternal quarterback quest and draft positioning. The future, may have already arrived.
Tis' the season for NFL Draft talk in Cleveland.
If you weren't there already, the Browns 31-29 loss to the NFL's basement dwelling Tennessee Titans was the last nudge anyone needed, especially considering the draft order implications of the loss.
At 3-10, the Browns remain very much in the mix for the No. 1 overall pick, which is currently owned by the now 2-11 Titans. The key, however, is that Tennessee now owns a head-to-head win over Cleveland.
Things may just be falling into place for the Browns to be in perfect position to identity and draft their quarterback of the future.
For a while on Sunday, rookie QB Shedeur Sanders was pushing that conversation to the back-burner for at least a little longer. No one was thinking about that when Sanders' zipped a pin-point pass to David Njoku near the back corner of the end zone to a touchdown early in the second quarter.
Or when he launched one down the middle of the field to Jerry Jeudy for a 66-yard touchdown pass that sent Jeudy flipping into the end zone he was so excited. These were simply throws other quarterbacks on this team weren't making when they had their opportunity to start.
The ghosts of the Browns previous QB decisions suddenly felt curious. Why Sanders' wasn't starting sooner in the season, and what the 2025 campaign could have been if he had remains one of the world's greatest mysteries.
Meanwhile, after trailing 14-3 early, the Browns offense was humming heading into the half leading 17-14, with Sanders having thrown for more yards in a half than any other start for Cleveland this season. He went on to finish the game with more passing yards than any other QB this season as well, with a whopping 364 yards total to go along with four total touchdowns, including one on the ground.
All-in-all, Sanders was awesome. Granted some unignorable problems still exist. The offense, once again, went ice cold for most of the second half. That's been a common theme in Sanders' three games as starter.
Then there was an inexcusable interception with about two minutes to go in the third quarter. Sanders dipped, ducked and dodged would be tacklers in the backfield to heave up 50-50 ball to Gage Larvadain in the middle of the field, but Titans S Xavier Woods parked underneath it like he was playing over at the corner of Carnegie and Ontario and made one of the easiest interceptions of his life.
It was a cringe-worthy blemish on an overall positive performance for Sanders, who explained afterwards that he felt pressed to make a play for his team. That mistake became a key inflection point that flipped the game in Tennessee's favor. Two plays later, the Titans were in the end zone for the first of three scoring drives in four drives that helped them build a 31-17 lead entering the later stages of the fourth quarter.
The it felt insurmountable, but if you believed that you don't know Sanders. He's the ultimate gamer, and with the Browns backs against the wall he found a way to orchestrate two touchdown drives in the final six minutes of the game to theoretically tie the football game.
Kevin Stefanski decided to lean into the NFL trend of going for two on the first score. It failed, setting up a do-or-die second two-point conversion attempt that also failed. Those are decisions that can be debated another day (or in another column). The fact that Sanders came off the field entirely for one of the plays was the most glaring decision of all.
Still, a much more important conversation was staring this organization right int he face during Sunday's loss regarding what the future holds at quarterback.
For the majority of 60 minutes, Sanders looked the part of a franchise QB. But there still some things he needs to work on.
He's the ghost of the Browns QB present. There's clearly something there, but have those in charge see enough to make him the center of their football universe moving forward, and build a roster around him? The next four weeks may determine that answer.
If not, the draft becomes a logical place to find the guy for the future. That ghost is rattling the bowels of Huntington Bank Field louder than ever, as the Browns were officially eliminated from playoff contention.
Everything that happens from here is about 2026 and figuring out their QB situation is priority No. 1.