If there was one consistent theme that surrounded the Cleveland Browns–along with the team’s fans and NFL observers in general–in the first half of the 2025 season, it was the frustration with the franchise and former coach Kevin Stefanski for not putting rookie quarterback Shedeur Sanders on the field. The Browns started the year with Joe Flacco under center, of course, and dealt him to the Bengals. Then, the team gave their next six starts to third-round pick Dillon Gabriel.
The Browns were 2-8 and had only seven games on the docket when the team finally gave Sanders, their 2025 fifth-rounder, a shot under center. He made plenty of mistakes, throwing interceptions (10 in all, with just seven touchdowns) and taking too many sacks. But Sanders brought more confidence to the team than it had under Flacco or Gabriel, and the Browns closed at 3-4 in his starts.
By the end of the year, the question for the Browns seemed to be simple: Why not turn to Sanders as the starter sooner than Week 10?
Browns Felt Shedeur Sanders Was ‘A Lot More Raw Than the General Public’
ESPN Browns beat reporter Daniel Oyefusi notes that the public perception of Sanders was a lot different than the perception of him within the team’s headquarters in Barea. Sanders went into last year’s draft as a potential first-round pick, and the fact that he slid all the way to the fifth round did not particularly bother fans–but for Browns, he was not ready to start games.
Said Oyefusi on ESPN radio in Cleveland on Monday: “I think they thought he was a lot more raw and had more development and learning to do than maybe the general public thought. But you know, they thought obviously as expected, he had ups and downs in his rookie season. They know he did not get a ton of reps and they know that the best way for a quarterback to learn and to develop is to get the on-field reps. And obviously he didn’t have that until the second half of the year.
“So they think there are flashes, but what they need is less peaks and valleys, they need more consistency. That’s the hope, that they can get that from Todd Monken, and he can acquit himself.”
Quarterback Battle Attracting Attention
The quarterback battle under Monken has already drawn considerable notice around the NFL, with Sanders representing a potentially brighter future, but with most predicting the Browns will give veteran Deshaun Watson one last chance to get and keep the job–and somehow justify the five-year, $230 million contract the team gave him in 2022.
The Browns owe Watson too much money to cut him, and though he has had two Achilles tendon surgeries, he’s still a candidate to start.
But for the long term, it still makes more sense for the Browns to point to Sanders. Said Oyefusi, “I think the Browns know that their best shot to get out of this Watson contract and to get themselves into, really, relevancy, and in contention, is to have a guy like Shedeur Sanders establish himself on a rookie contract so they can build out the rest of the roster.”
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