ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler offered the latest on the Cleveland Browns’ QB room, particularly with Shedeur Sanders and Dillon Gabriel. Both rookies have started preseason games but it looks like they won’t win the starting gig for the year, at least as of right now. According to Fowler, Joe Flacco will start Saturday against the Los […]
ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler offered the latest on the Cleveland Browns’ QB room, particularly with Shedeur Sanders and Dillon Gabriel. Both rookies have started preseason games but it looks like they won’t win the starting gig for the year, at least as of right now.
According to Fowler, Joe Flacco will start Saturday against the Los Angeles Rams to get the starters some reps. Then, Gabriel and Sanders will be evaluated the rest of the way.
Both Sanders and Gabriel have had their moments and could very well be competing for QB2. With Kenny Pickett on the mend, the situation is fluid.
“Yeah, so they’re close to finalizing their plans in the quarterback room,” Fowler said on SportsCenter. “They could keep four quarterbacks, but today could be a determining factor, depending on how it goes with the rookies. Joe Flacco will get some reps. They’re thinking 20 to 25 reps for the starters in the third preseason game, and then you go to Dillon Gabriel to get the second crack at it, the rookie third round pick, and then you got Shedeur Sanders. He will get some run.
“Kenny Pickett’s still hurt, so he’s somewhere in this equation, but he’s been banged up for really the last month. So the question is, do the Browns carry him on the roster? (Do they) maybe put him on short term IR give him four weeks to start the season? But the feeling right now is they like how Gabriel and Sanders are developing. I don’t expect them to trade either one. They’re going to roll through the weekend, see what these guys can do, they like what they’re doing.”
Sanders got the start against the Carolina Panthers this preseason. He went 14-of-23 passing for 138 yards and two touchdowns while Tyler Huntley played out the rest of the game.
Against the Philadelphia Eagles, Sanders was injured and held out while Gabriel got the start. He went 13-of-18 passing for 143 yards and one interception.
However, some don’t like the way Cleveland is handling the quarterback competition. ESPN’s Marcus Spears called out the handling of Sanders and Gabriel behind a guy like Flacco.
“The one thing that worries me, and we talked about this last night, is if you’re if you’re getting to this point with Dillon Gabriel and Shedeur Sanders, and you’re saying we’re two weeks away from the season now we go start treating one of you guys like a backup, and something bad happens to Joe Flacco, both are set up for failure,” Spears said. “And that’s the part that bothers me.
“I’m saying if you didn’t have Dillon Gabriel and Shedeur Sanders, because Kenny Pickett has been dealing with the injury, obviously, if you didn’t have them getting second team reps, at times getting reps with the ones. And now you going into this point saying, ‘Hey, Dillon you the two.’ Or ‘Shedeur, you the two.’ Well, bro, I’m so far behind of what it’s like to be out there with David Njoku, I’m so far behind game-like scenarios that Joe Flacco has been through a million times.”
Category: Football