After a longer-than-expected wait, Shedeur Sanders was selected with the 144th pick of the NFL Draft by the Cleveland Browns. But will he take the first snap for the Browns in Week 1?
The Browns undoubtedly have a crowded QB room, with Sanders joining 2023 NFL Comeback Player of the Year Joe Flacco, former first-round pick Kenny Pickett and fellow 2025 selection Dillon Gabriel. Not to mention Deshaun Watson, who is highly unlikely to play this season after tearing his Achilles for a second time. On DraftKings Sportsbook, Flacco started off at 12-to-1 but has seen significant movement all the way up to 3-to-1.
Joe Flacco opened 12-1 yesterday on @DKSportsbook to be the Browns' Week 1 starting QB.
Flacco has received 87% of the bets for 92% of the money and is currently priced at 3-1 👀 https://t.co/GHjSskWacZ
— Julian Edlow (@julianedlow) April 28, 2025
Flacco is returning to the Browns after a season in Indianapolis where he started six games and threw for 1,761 yards with 12 touchdowns and seven interceptions. Flacco, of course, won the Comeback Player of the Year in 2023 after signing with the Browns and going 4-1 in five games started, posting 1,616 yards with 13 touchdowns and eight interceptions. Pickett comes to Cleveland after a stint in Philadelphia where he started one game and appeared in five. Pickett did have two 2,000-yard seasons in Pittsburgh, but his QBR was just 38.1 in his final season with the Steelers.
Gabriel is coming off a season at Oregon where he finished third in the Heisman voting, leading the Big Ten in attempts (447), completions (326) and yards per game (275.5). Gabriel threw for over 18,000 yards and 155 touchdowns in collegiate career at UCF, Oklahoma and Oregon and Greg Cosell told Ross Tucker on The Ross Tucker Football Podcast that he thinks Gabriel has a natural feel for the quarterback position.
“I think that (Dillon) Gabriel is a guy that has a natural feel for the position.”@GregCosell breaks down why the Browns might’ve preferred Gabriel to Shedeur Sanders, Quinn Ewers, etc. pic.twitter.com/8aEfilnHKx
— Ross Tucker Podcast (@RossTuckerPod) April 28, 2025
When it comes to Sanders, reports began to circulate last week that a slide out of the first round was possible but no one saw him lasting until Day 3. Sanders was the 2024 Big 12 Offensive Player of the Year, leading the conference in attempts (477), completions (353), completion percentage (74.0%), yards (4,134), touchdowns (37), yards per game (318.0) and yards per attempt (8.7). Despite all that, Draft expert Todd McShay told Tucker that Sanders is “a really good football player who does not have an elite physical trait.”
“If his name was different, I don’t think we’d have this much attention on him…”
“… he’s a really good football player who does not have an elite physical trait.”@McShay13 breaks down what he’s seen from Shedeur Sanders: pic.twitter.com/ASoerMxFIE
— Ross Tucker Podcast (@RossTuckerPod) April 12, 2025
For what it’s worth, Emory Hunt told Tucker that if anyone tells you that Sanders’ tape was fifth-round worthy they’re gaslighting you or completely naive. He still thinks Sanders was first-round worthy, but he can accept a second-round grade even if he thinks that’s wrong. But, he says there’s no way you can look at what Sanders did consistently at the collegiate level and not see some of the same things you like about Cam Ward.
When it comes to Cleveland, while Emory says we all love competition, we want a fair competition. We don’t want someone putting their thumb on the scale and stacking the deck against a player. He says you always hope the better player wins the job and he says that if you base the competition on just talent, Shedeur is the QB1 in Cleveland.
