Cleveland Browns quarterback Shedeur Sanders entered the offseason as the No. 4 in the team’s quarterback pecking order behind Joe Flacco, Kenny Pickett and Dillon Gabriel.
That has rightly led many to wonder if Sanders might not even make the final cut ahead of his first season in the NFL. After all, the Browns won’t keep four quarterbacks on their initial 53-man roster.
However, the door appears to be wide open for Sanders to make the cut, and maybe even win the backup or starting job.
According to ESPN Cleveland’s Aaron Goldhammer, Pickett has looked like the worst of the four quarterbacks at Browns OTAs.
Furthermore, he ranked Sanders second behind only Flacco, with Gabriel falling one spot behind Sanders in the rankings.
“Best quarterback at OTAs yesterday from what I heard and I talked to 20 people that were there,” he said. “Consensus best quarterback, Joe Flacco. Consensus second-best quarterback, Shedeur Sanders. Consensus third, Dillon Gabriel.
“Consensus worst player at OTAs, Kenny Pickett,” he concluded.
Now, this was more than a week ago, but Pickett doesn’t appear to be doing much better of late.
On Wednesday, the Browns signal-caller struggled after nearly throwing multiple picks at practice, according to The Chronicle-Telegram’s Scott Petrak.
Meanwhile, Sanders has been described as “impressive” both by beat writers on the ground and people in the Browns’ building. He recently started getting 11-on-11 reps, also, which is a positive step in the right direction for him.
ESPN’s Kimberley A. Martin also revealed she’s heard that there are some inside the Browns’ facility who think Sanders could be the starter.
“In that building, there are people who believe that Shedeur can 100%be the starter of this football team,” Martin said, before adding that Sanders is “soaking up everything like a sponge.”
The expectation is that whoever doesn’t win the starting quarterback job between Flacco and Pickett, the two favorites, will get cut or traded.
Right now, Pickett appears to be the one who could be on the chopping block come final cuts, and Sanders has a clear path to, at the very least, winning the backup job behind Flacco.
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