Is Shedeur Sanders already playing his way out of the Cleveland Browns' starting quarterback job?
Shedeur Sanders has started the last two weeks for the Cleveland Browns and will make his third career start under center against the Tennessee Titans this Sunday.
But is it just a formality at this point?
Dillon Gabriel essentially proved that he was nothing more than a backup during his opportunity to start, and even though it was a Week 11 concussion that initially resulted in him giving way to Sanders, he almost certainly would have lost his job very soon regardless.
Sanders has looked pedestrian thus far, and perhaps he is only starting because he is a better option than Gabriel.
Cleveland radio host Bruce Drennan has already seen about enough of Sanders and clearly does not think the 23-year-old is the Browns' quarterback of the future, advising the team to trade up for a quarterback in the NFL Draft.
"I'm not convinced about Sanders," Drennan said. "... We haven't seen enough of him yet. Some might say we haven't seen enough of Gabriel. I have, and I'm about that close to saying the same thing about Sanders."
Since relieving Gabriel during the second half of Week 11, Sanders has thrown for 405 yards, a couple of touchdowns and a pair of interceptions while completing 50.8 percent of his passes and posting a 69.4 passer rating.
In his most recent start against the San Francisco 49ers last weekend, Sanders went 16-for-25 with 149 yards and a touchdown. He was decent, but he didn't do anything extraordinary, and we've yet to really see him open up the offense.
At this point, it seems fairly obvious that the Browns don't view either Gabriel nor Sanders as their long-term future under center.
Cleveland is 3-9 and currently holds the No. 5 overall pick in the 2026 NFL Draft order. That should be enough to land a quarterback, but if the Browns slip, they may have to trade up.
Remember: Cleveland owns a pair of first-round draft choices, so it should have no problem moving up in the draft order to nab a signal-caller.
Fernando Mendoza, Dante Moore and Ty Simpson are viewed as the top quarterbacks in the class, and that's assuming Arch Manning stays at Texas for another year.