Shedeur Sanders to suit up as Browns’ emergency No. 3 QB

The guesses and confusion surrounding the Cleveland Browns’ quarterback room can finally be put to rest. Dillon Gabriel has officially beat out Shedeur Sanders for the backup spot behind Joe Flacco, and Sanders will be the team’s emergency quarterback on the 53-man roster.

After trading Kenny Pickett, the #Browns will have Dillon Gabriel be their No. 2 quarterback, coach Kevin Stefanski said.

Fellow rookie Shedeur Sanders also will dress on game day as the emergency third QB. But it’ll be Gabriel, the third-round pick, backing up Joe Flacco. pic.twitter.com/WHJLI12nUy

— Tom Pelissero (@TomPelissero) August 26, 2025

Sanders will reportedly still dress on game days, but it’s going to be a long shot for him to see any meaningful action in the regular season. He would need Flacco and Gabriel to both get hurt, and for the Browns to not go out and get another quarterback on the market if that happens.

Don’t forget about Deshaun Watson. The three-time Pro Bowler is still a part of the organization as he works back from an Achilles tear. A realistic return for him would be sometime near or after Halloween.

Sanders turned heads around the NFL after his stellar performance in the Browns’ first preseason game, but an oblique injury turned his preseason upside down. He missed the team’s second game against the Philadelphia Eagles, and then saw action late in their final game against the Los Angeles Rams. He took five sacks and completed just three passes in that outing, good for a total of -27 yards. It was not a good outing for the former Colorado star.

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For Sanders, it’s a better outcome than what happened to his brother Shilo, as the safety was waived by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Sunday morning after throwing a punch in his final preseason outing. Still, Shedeur’s got a big mountain to climb if he wants to earn some meaningful playing time on any NFL roster, not just the Browns.

Deion Sanders said on Tuesday that his sons will be alright, with or without football. He didn’t seem to worried about what the future has in store for his sons after a rough outing for both of them to end the preseason.

This isn’t a surprising decision from the Browns by any means. They showed in the draft that Gabriel is their priority over Sanders by taking him in the third round and Sanders in the fifth. Sanders was projected to be a first-round pick and one of the first quarterbacks off the board, but an unprecedented slide resulted in him falling all the way to pick No. 144.