The Cleveland Browns held their first offseason minicamp on April 21.

The most notable storyline of the minicamp was the quarterback battle between Deshaun Watson and Shedeur Sanders. Despite the minicamp being optional, both players wanted to make a good impression in hopes of winning the starting spot.

Sanders went 11-for-11 in drills. Todd Monken told reporters before the minicamp that he plans for Sanders to work with the starters more.

The Browns drafted Sanders in the fifth round of the 2025 NFL Draft. He started the final seven games of the season. He threw seven touchdowns and 10 interceptions. His best game was against the Tennessee Titans when he threw three touchdowns and one interception. Sanders was named to the Pro Bowl. Reporters discovered that no other quarterback was available for the Pro Bowl Games in February. 

There was no mention of the specific number of drills that Watson did. However, Monken said that Watson was moving well and making accurate passes.

Watson missed the 2025 season with a torn Achilles. Watson was working back from a 2024 Achilles tear, but suffered another one in January 2025. 

In his last season, Watson threw five touchdowns and three interceptions in seven games. The Browns went 1-6 in these seven games. 

Just a few years ago, in 2020, Watson led the league in passing yards with 4,823. In 2021, he faced over 20 lawsuits for alleged sexual misconduct. The Houston Texans put him on indefinite leave for the 2021 season.

The Browns traded for Watson in 2022. Since 2022, he’s thrown 19 touchdowns and 12 interceptions. For context, in his last season with the Texans, he threw 33 touchdowns and seven interceptions.  

The NFL Draft is scheduled for April 23. The Browns hold two first-round picks. Although it’s reported they may take a QB in the later rounds, their earlier picks will likely focus on receivers and offensive linemen.

Former Colorado safety Shilo Sanders made a sexist comment towards Cleveland Browns reporter Mary Kay Cabot.

Sanders is the brother of Browns backup quarterback Shedeur Sanders. Shilo played with his brother in Colorado, but went undrafted in the 2025 NFL Draft.

Cabot was covering the training camp positional battle between Shedeur and former Pro Bowl selection Deshaun Watson. Cabot said that she believes the Browns should name Watson the starter, but Shilo didn’t like her take.

“Go make a sandwich, Mary,” Shilo wrote in a social media comment.

Although many fans found the remarks hurtful, Cabot didn’t back down.

“I know so many women who have joined the football world, especially because of some of the things I’ve been able to do over the years. I’m happy about that,” Cabot said.

Meanwhile, Shilo doubled down on his comment. On a livestream on Twitch, Shilo said that he didn’t like Cabot’s reporting and feels as if she has a “personal vendetta” with his brother. 

Shedeur threw seven touchdowns and 10 interceptions in eight games. His best game was against the Tennessee Titans in Week 14 when he threw three touchdowns and one interception. Many Browns fans, including Shilo, believe he showed enough potential to be the starter in 2026.

Meanwhile, many analysts believe that Watson should get the starting spot. Watson missed the 2025 season with a torn Achilles. He tore his Achilles while recovering from a torn Achilles. 

In his last season in 2024, Watson threw five touchdowns and three interceptions in seven games. The Browns went 1-6 in his starts.

In 2020, he led the league in passing yards with 4,823. The Houston Texans traded him to the Browns two seasons later. 

Cleveland Browns Pro Bowl defender Myles Garrett was given a speeding ticket last month.

Garrett was clocked for going 94 mph in a 70 mph zone. This is Garrett’s ninth speeding ticket since entering the league in 2017.

Garrett is supposed to appear in court on March 10. However, his court date will be canceled if he pays the fine in full beforehand. 

The Browns drafted Garrett with the No. 1 pick in the 2017 NFL Draft. In his first season, injuries limited him to just 11 games. In 2018, he played in all 16 games and made his first career Pro Bowl appearance. 

Injuries again limited Garrett in 2019, who played just 10 games. In 2020, he made the Pro Bowl and helped the Browns end their 17-year playoff drought. He’s made the Pro Bowl every season since 2020.

His health has significantly improved since 2020. From 2021 to 2025, he’s only missed two games. He’s played in all 17 games for two straight seasons. 

Garrett is a two-time Defensive Player of the Year. He won his first award in 2023, when he led the league in approximate value with 20. He also won the award this season. He had 23 sacks and 33 tackles for loss to lead the league.

Garrett set the all-time record for sacks in a season. The previous record was set by T.J Watt with the Steelers in 2021, who had 22.5. This mark tied Michael Strahan, who had 22.5 sacks for the New York Giants in 2001. It’s important to note that Strahan did this in a 16-game season, compared to Watt and Garrett, who had 17 games.  

The Browns will look to improve their fortunes under their new head coach, Todd Monken, who was previously the Ravens’ offensive coordinator.  

The Cleveland Browns and quarterback Deshaun Watson have agreed to restructure his contract, freeing up $36 million in cap space to be cap-compliant before the new football year begins.

Watson, 30, missed all of last season while recovering from an Achilles injury he suffered in 2024. He was supposed to have a cap hit of $80.7 million, which was by far a league high, before the restructure.

The Browns will owe Watson $46 million guaranteed in 2026 after signing a five-year, $230 million fully guaranteed contract after being traded to the Browns.

Watson has hardly seen the field for the Browns due to suspensions and injuries, but the Browns expect and hope Watson to be in the mix to be their starting quarterback next season. In games he has played, he has not been good, posting a league-worst 33.1 total quarterback rating.

He will be competing with Shedeur Sanders, Dillon Gabriel and potentially another quarterback if they choose to bring one in.

New Browns head coach Todd Monken said he wants Watson in the mix because “anytime that you have a player that at one time has exhibited the skill set at an elite level,” hope remains.

“I think you’re always going to give them the benefit of the doubt that somehow we might be able to get that out of him again, and I think that’s how you should look at every player.”

The Browns still have more work to do and more contracts to restructure before free agency officially begins.

There’s been a major breakthrough in the investigation of the break-in of Cleveland Browns quarterback Shedeur Sanders’ home.

The Medina County Sheriff’s Office in Ohio arrested three suspects in connection with the burglary of Sanders’ home during his NFL debut in Week 11. 

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The three suspects were seen entering Sanders’ home wearing masks at 7 p.m. and took $200,000 in property. A fourth man was seen driving the car that carried the men.

While the alleged burglary took place, Sanders was busy making his NFL debut. He replaced the injured Dillon Gabriel and threw for just 47 yards against the Ravens. 

Despite a poor debut, Sanders was given the starting QB job for the rest of the season with mixed results. He threw three touchdowns against the Titans on December 7, but just a week later, he threw three interceptions against the Bears. 

Sanders hopes that whoever broke into his home will receive justice. However, his mind can’t completely move on from football as the Browns are currently in the process of finding a new head coach.

In college, his Hall of Fame father, Deion Sanders, helped get the most out of him. Although a father-son reunion is unlikely, Sanders can only hope for the same chemistry with the Browns’ next head coach. 

During the NFL draft, Sanders received a prank call from Jax Ulbrich, son of Falcons offensive coordinator Jeff Ulbrich. Sanders was told that he’d be drafted by the Falcons but would need to be patient. Sanders ended up falling to the fifth round of the 2025 NFL draft. The Falcons were fined for this breach of draft protocol.  

After six years, the Cleveland Browns will go in a different direction following the firing of head coach Kevin Stefanski. 

Stefanski first joined the team in 2020. He surprisingly got the Browns to the playoffs in his first season with an 11-5 record. This was the Browns’ first playoff appearance since 2002. Stefanski did not coach during the playoffs due to COVID-19 exposure. Despite this, acting head coach Mike Priefer defeated the Steelers and put up a good fight against the Chiefs. 

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The Browns missed the playoffs in 2021 and 2022, but returned in 2023. Despite running old Joe Flacco at quarterback, the Browns had a top-10 offense thanks to offensive lineman Joel Bitonio and Wyatt Teller, wide receiver Amari Cooper and tight end David Njoku. Their defense was carried by defensive player of the year Myles Garrett. They would go on to lose the wild-card game to the Texans, marking the last playoff appearance of the Stefanski era.

What truly held the Browns back was their QB situation. The Browns gave up on Baker Mayfield after the 2021 season. They traded for Deshaun Watson to get themselves a star QB. However, a suspension for sexual abuse allegations in 2022 and injuries in 2023 and 2024 kept him out of the lineup. He missed all of 2025 after tearing his Achilles tendon in the offseason.

Whoever the Browns hire as head coach next will need to decide whether Watson has anything left in the tank or they should fully commit to developing Shedeur Sanders. 

Despite not having the best record, Stefanski did a lot of good for the Browns.

Making the playoffs twice with a roster that was a laughingstock in the 2010s is no small feat. Regardless of whom they hire as coach, the Browns need to set a direction quickly. Stefanski will likely attract interest from teams seeking head coaches, including the Giants and Raiders. 

Cleveland Browns defensive end Alex Wright reached an agreement with the team on a three-year, $33 million extension, according to ESPN’s Adam Schefter on Thursday.

The contract extension will also include a $21 million guarantee. The deal comes as the defensive end was expected to enter unrestricted free agency next offseason.

The 25-year-old is playing in his fourth season in Cleveland but is currently nursing a quad injury suffered against the New York Jets on Nov. 9. In his nine games played this season, Wright recorded three sacks and one forced fumble.

The Browns will travel to face the Las Vegas Raiders on Sunday afternoon. Both teams enter the weekend with a 2-8 record.

Rookie quarterback Shedeur Sanders‘ first NFL snaps came in the middle of a rivalry game and a collapsing lead, and turned into a harsh introduction to the league

Sanders replaced fellow rookie Dillon Gabriel to open the second half of the Cleveland Browns’ 23–16 home loss to the Baltimore Ravens on Sunday, after Gabriel was ruled out with a concussion. Sanders, a fifth-round pick out of Colorado and son of Hall of Famer Deion Sanders, went 4-of-16 for 47 yards with an interception, which added 16 rushing yards and took two sacks as the Browns were shut out after halftime.

Cleveland led 16–10 at the break, but Baltimore clawed back and took the game on a trick play the Ravens call Hurricane, a fourth-and-inches look that turned into tight end Mark Andrews sprinting 35 yards for the go-ahead score with 2:31 remaining.

Sanders nearly authored a late answer that guided the Browns to the Ravens’ 25-yard line in the final minutes before three straight incompletions, which included a contested throw to Gage Larvadain in the end zone, ended the drive and effectively the game.

Afterward, Sanders was blunt about his performance, saying he didn’t play well and emphasized the lack of timing with receivers such as Jerry Jeudy, something coaches acknowledged by noting he had not taken first-team reps during the week while the staff focused on preparing Gabriel.

The rough debut capped an already rocky start to Sanders’ pro career, which included an unexpected slide to the fifth round in April after he’d once been projected as an early pick.

Players from the Pittsburgh Steelers and Cleveland Browns criticized poor playing conditions and discussed “outrage” to the NFL Players Association, according to an ESPN report.

After the Steelers’ 23-9 victory on Sunday at Acrisure Stadium, players from both teams reported “dry” field conditions and were also seen kicking patches of grass during the game.

“The NFLPA has conveyed its concern to the NFL and will work to ensure that players are not put in that position going forward,” the source told ESPN on Wednesday.

Brian McCarthy, an NFL spokesperson, said earlier this week the league is in contact with the union and club, and will be taking “steps to replace the grass surface.”

During the fourth quarter, Steelers kicker Chris Boswell missed his 54-yard field goal because he slipped on the grass. Special teams captain Miles Killebrew also suffered a “significant” knee injury as he went down without contact.

“The conditions at Acrisure Stadium underscore why players have pushed for high-quality grass fields, and why the NFLPA continues to push for improved, shared maintenance practices of grass fields across the league,” the source said.

On Monday, Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin understood the playing conditions were “poor,” but didn’t express concern for the long term as he acknowledged the turf would be replaced. The surface at the stadium was scheduled to be re-sodded following the game.

Pittsburgh’s next home game will be against the Green Bay Packers on Oct. 26 on Sunday Night Football.

“Players deserve to have the safest and highest-quality places of work,” the source said. “The NFLPA is advocating to establish better leaguewide standards and pushing the NFL for more surface-specific data in order to ensure that our members are playing on the best possible field surfaces, no matter if it’s grass or turf.”

Former New York Jets and Buffalo Bills head coach Rex Ryan had harsh words for Cleveland Browns rookie quarterback Shedeur Sanders.

Speaking on Monday’s episode of Get Up, Ryan called out the former Colorado quarterback who has yet to play a game for the Browns this season.

“Something’s missing with this kid,” Ryan said. “This kid talks, runs his mouth like, ‘I can be a starting quarterback’ with his arms crossed like this. Get your a– in the front row and study and do all that.”

“Quit being an embarrassment that way. You got the talent to be the quarterback, you should be. You should be embarrassed that you’re not the quarterback now.”

The Detroit Lions handed the Browns a heavy loss last Sunday, downgrading their record to 1-3. Quarterback Joe Flacco threw two interceptions in the game and has since been benched by head coach Kevin Stefanski earlier this week. Dillon Gabriel is expected to start this Sunday against the Minnesota Vikings, while Sanders remains as the third-string option.

In a bizarre media availability session on Wednesday, Sanders remained silent but moved his mouth when asked questions. The gesture was in response to Ryan’s comments, according to ESPN’s Adam Schefter.

It’s yet to be seen whether Sanders will make an appearance this season for the Browns. In the meantime, the team gets ready for Sunday’s game in London against the Vikings at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

Former Cleveland Browns quarterback and 2012 Heisman Trophy winner Johnny Manziel opened up on his past career struggles.

The 32-year-old was selected by the Browns in the 2014 NFL draft after a promising collegiate career with Texas A&M. However, Manziel suffered setbacks off the field, such as drug use and domestic violence accusations, which limited his time in the NFL.

After two seasons with the Browns, the quarterback spent spells with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats, Montreal Alouettes, Memphis Express and the FCF Zappers.

On the season four premiere of Special Forces, Manziel admitted he felt “shame and regret” about his shortened professional career.

“I lost a huge part of my work ethic,” he said. “I gave up on a real opportunity, a football career, and walked away from it pretty quick.”

“I think, after I got my most success and won the Heisman Trophy as a freshman, I think I just got treated differently.”

While at Texas A&M, Manziel registered nearly 8,000 passing yards across two seasons with the Aggies. He became the first freshman to win the Heisman Trophy award, while also becoming the first freshman in NCAA history to record 3,000 passing yards and 1,000 rushing yards in a single season.

It was the final few minutes of the game between the Los Angeles Rams and the Cleveland Browns when, suddenly, quarterback Shedeur Sanders was benched.

Sanders was recently drafted during the 2025 NFL Draft. He was the 144th pick in the fifth round – a surprising result because he was expected to be picked in the first round. Since then, he has had a good preseason with the Browns. During the game against the Rams, he attempted six passes, of which only three were completed, resulting in a total of 14 yards gained.

In Sanders’ debut the previous week, he far exceeded the team’s expectations.

In early August, Sanders suffered an oblique strain injury while they were practicing. This result led him to miss the second NFL preseason game in which the Browns beat the Eagles.

Sanders seemed unaware that he had been benched. Cleveland Browns coach Kevin Stefanski decided to play Tyler Huntley, who had just signed with the team earlier this month.

Once Sanders realized that he was being benched, he walked toward his coach and asked him to let him play the final minutes. Sanders was seen frustrated when his coach would not let him go back in.

What does all of this mean to Sanders’ career? Sanders is expected to make the final roster as the fourth quarterback. He is under a four-year contract with the team, and he will likely serve as a backup player. The injury that he sustained at the beginning of the month set back his career aspirations.

As the NFL season begins in early September, it presents a new opportunity for Sanders to secure more playing time and defend his position. The first game of the NFL that the Cleveland Browns will play is against the Cincinnati Bengals on Sept. 7.

By the end of Shedeur Sanders‘ performance in the Cleveland Browns’ preseason opener against the Carolina Panthers on Friday, there were glowing reviews on social media from celebrities such as LeBron James and Jamie Foxx, complimentary posts from other NFL players like Xavier Worthy and even a Nike post that included a picture of Sanders along with the caption “Only a matter of time.”

As one Browns source joked, it may be the most talked-about preseason performance in the history of the NFL.

Despite the jokes, it was a strong performance from Sanders that the Browns’ staff felt good about and viewed as a confidence-builder and building block for the fifth-round draft pick. Even beyond the game, where Sanders went 14 for 23 for 138 yards with two touchdown passes, the Browns staff saw Sanders take a noticeable step forward with his preparation and locking in behind the scenes last week, knowing that he was in line for more reps and to start that game versus the Carolina Panthers.

There were positives from Sanders’ performance against the Panthers (for example, that he was decisive and threw the ball well), but there are “still a lot of things there that need to be cleaned up,” including from a pocket presence standpoint and handling pressure. Sources emphasized that it’s crucial not to get ahead of oneself based on the Browns’ first preseason game. The feedback prior to the start was that Sanders had been “up and down” through the beginning of the offseason and camp.

With Kenny Pickett and third-round draft pick Dillon Gabriel limited by injuries, Sanders seized an opportunity. However, Sanders currently appears to be the fourth quarterback on the depth chart, behind expected starter Joe Flacco, followed by Pickett and Gabriel.

The opportunity for an increased workload should continue through this week for Sanders. While sources believe Gabriel may be back to being a full-go this week, it seems like Pickett is still at least a week away from being a full participant. And coming off that stellar showing against the Panthers, the Browns’ staff is highly curious to see how Sanders follows that up this week when the Browns face the Philadelphia Eagles in their second preseason game.

The Cleveland Browns slotted rookie Shedeur Sanders fourth on the quarterback depth chart ahead of Friday’s preseason opener, which means opportunity against the Carolina Panthers if reported arm soreness is not a lingering issue. Joe Flacco tops the depth chart while Kenny Pickett, who received much of the first-team reps to begin training camp, is No. 2 ahead of Dillion Gabriel. For Sanders, opportunities are waning as Cleveland moves closer to trimming the roster to its 53-man ahead of the season.

Chances are slim that the Browns, who signed veteran Tyler Huntley for another arm at practice, given recent injuries, will take more than three quarterbacks on the roster.

“How do I block out the noise? I’ve always faced adversity since growing up,” Sanders said Monday via Cleveland 14 News. “Each level, it’s always been something. When you figure out how people come at you … life is a cycle, it keeps repeating over, over and over, then you understand what game this is or what they’re doing. I can never feel less than. Nobody can ever make me mentally get out of position in the situation I’m in.

“I’m thankful for who I am, I’m thankful for who my Dad is, I’m thankful for my family. No one can make me feel bad about the blessings I do have.”

Sanders’ skeptics have been active since the Browns took him two rounds after selecting Gabriel in April, an unexpected move after the former Colorado star tumbled in the draft.

“I just feel like in life and everything, it’s just me versus me,” Sanders said in May, via The Akron Beacon-Journal. “I can’t control any other decision besides that. So I just try to be my best self at all times.”

The addition of Huntley shows the Browns are scrambling, which should be good news for Sanders from a playing time standpoint in Friday’s game since Pickett and Gabriel are dealing with hamstring injuries and are expected out.

Shedeur Sanders made headlines for being cited after going 100 mph, but it was recently revealed that the ticket wasn’t his first of the year.

In fact, it wasn’t his first ticket in June.

Sanders was pulled over going 91 in a 65mph zone. He was fined $150 with another $99 in court costs. His second ticket, which is more well-known, occurred the next day.

While appearing at his teammate David Njoku‘s charity softball game, Sanders addressed his raft of tickets.

“I made some wrong choices personally and I can own up to them,” Sanders said. “I made some, you know, not great choices. I learned. I learned. I learned.”

Character concerns are largely why Sanders dropped to the fifth round in the NFL Draft, before the Cleveland Browns picked him with the 144th pick.

While his father, Deion Sanders, denied the rumors surrounding his son during the pre-draft period, two citations for reckless driving in less than a month don’t help the narratives surrounding him.

The Browns said they have already addressed the situation with Sanders.

The Cleveland Browns have four primary candidates for the starting quarterback job. According to Browns offensive coordinator Tommy Rees, any of them – Joe Flacco, Kenny Pickett, Dillon Gabriel and Shedeur Sanders – can win it.

“You can see them all winning the job, I think, right?” Rees said to reporters on Wednesday. “And so in terms of the competition, we’re so early in the process. We’re so early in evaluating that. Yeah, I think, you know, we have a good group of guys that continue to push one another and by the time September rolls around, we’ll be ready to go.”

It’s hard to imagine all four candidates being in the running for the starting job when training camp opens. The last guy on the depth chart will have a hard time getting enough quality reps, and the more quality reps that go to someone other than the eventual starter will make it harder for him to be ready.

The Browns will most likely trim the competition to three before training camp opens, with one of the four being traded.

Flacco has the experience and affection of the fan base due to his previous stint in Cleveland during the 2023-2024 season, where he helped lead the Browns to a playoff appearance. Gabriel and Sanders each could become the long-term answer, so it would be foolish to give up on either of the two prematurely, which makes Pickett the odd man out of the bunch.

The Browns have a mandatory minicamp next week, which could be the last chance they’ll have to evaluate the four quarterbacks before training camp.

“It’s going to be fluid,” Rees said regarding next week’s practice plan for the four quarterbacks. “We’re going to continue to work with all the guys we have. We’re going to develop all four of them and, you know, we’re going to push reps. We’re going to find ways to be creative to make sure that they all have opportunities to develop and put their best foot forward. And, you know, when the time comes, we’ll continue to push guys forward as they are.”

In the wake of his shocking draft fall, Shedeur Sanders is calling out “another lie” being spread on social media.

Sanders recently fell in the NFL Draft as he was projected to be a first-round pick. He ended up being a day three pick by the Cleveland Browns, who ended up picking Oregon quarterback Dillion Gabriel in the third round.

A viral social media post claims that Sanders spent his entire signing bonus, plus more, on a custom Rolls-Royce worth over $500,000.

In the video on X that shows the mega luxury vehicle, Sanders can be heard talking on FaceTime in the background of the video, saying, “My car get there?”

Sanders has denied these claims on X regarding the car purchase.

“Another lie,” Sanders said on X. “I’m focused on my team, not a car purchase!”

In a previous episode of Tom Brady’s Let’s Go! Podcast in September 2023, Sanders’ father and coach Deion Sanders asked Brady whether his son should have a Rolls-Royce while in college.

“Do you think a college kid needs a Phantom? Like a Rolls-Royce,” Deion asked Brady.

Brady quickly rebuffed Deion’s question.

“I think he needs to get his a– in the film room and spend as much time in there as possible, and less time in the car and more time in the film room,” Brady said on a multi-person video call with his podcast host.

Reports indicated that Sanders did not handle the draft process well and rubbed teams the wrong way, leading up to the draft, which led to his drop.

It has been reported that Sanders bombed his interview with the Giants after he became “pissed” at the team for mistakes in his interview and offensive installation.

Sanders is now attempting to make the Browns’ 53-man roster after being selected 144th overall.

NFL fans were surprised when Shedeur Sanders fell to the fifth round in the draft, but the former Colorado quarterback wasn’t the only Sanders taken aback.

His father and former head coach, Deion Sanders, was “hurt” by the reports, which stated that his son was unprepared during predraft meetings with teams, although he isn’t buying the validity of them either.

“It did hurt. But the Bible says God uses the foolish things to confound the wise,” Sanders said on the Say What Needs to be Said podcast. “Folks said we weren’t gonna be nothing. But we had to prove that. It gave them the edge that they needed.”

Sanders compared his son to Tom Brady during the podcast because of their similar paths to being drafted. Brady was taken in the seventh round, while Shedeur was taken in the fifth.

Shedeur is also wearing the number 12 with the Cleveland Browns, the same number as Brady.

During the podcast, Deion also acknowledged rumors that his son wore headphones during meetings with NFL teams.

“When you sit up there and say something like he went into a meeting unprepared, like, dude, Shedeur Sanders?” Sanders said. “Anybody who knows my son understands he’s a professional. He’s going to go into a meeting with headphones on? Y’all, come on now.”

Despite the surprising start to Sanders’ NFL career, he will potentially have an opportunity to play with the Browns.

The quarterback room in Cleveland consists of Sanders, Kenny Pickett, Joe Flacco, Deshaun Watson and fellow rookie Dillon Gabriel.

The Cleveland Browns have a big decision to make regarding who the starter will be due to Deshaun Watson reinjuring his Achilles tendon, which would make him out for most, if not all, of the regular season.

The Browns have many options to choose from to be their starter. Before the NFL draft, the Browns signed 2022 first-round pick Kenny Pickett and Super Bowl-winning quarterback Joe Flacco, who previously played for the team in 2023 and led them to a playoff appearance. During the draft, the Browns selected Oregon quarterback Dillion Gabriel in the third round and Colorado Boulder quarterback Shedeur Sanders in the fifth round.

Many presumed that Flacco would be named as the initial starter for the season due to the fact that he is a veteran and had previous success with the team in 2023, having a 4-1 record with the Browns in the regular season, but lost to the Houston Texans in the playoffs. Browns insider Mary Kay Cabot of The Plain Dealer says that

Pickett is the current leader of the quarterback competition.

“It’s a tough call before we’ve even seen the first practice of organized team activities, but I know Kenny Pickett heads in as the frontrunner to win the starting job at the outset,” Cabot wrote Sunday for The Plain Dealer. “He’ll take the initial first-team reps in OTAs and probably the mandatory minicamp, and it seems like it’s his job to try and keep for now.”

Cabot indicates that it will be a tight race between Pickett and Flacco to determine who will get the starting role, but that Pickett is in the lead at the moment. Pickett was the backup quarterback for the Philadelphia Eagles last season after having a rocky stint with the Pittsburgh Steelers for his first two years.

With the race between Pickett and Flacco being close, Cabot noted that Sanders and Gabriel have a lot to prove in the offseason for them to have a real chance to be named the starter, despite the interesting storylines involving Sanders.

Colorado Buffaloes star quarterback Shedeur Sanders‘ slide from a projected top-10 pick to the fifth round shocked the football world, but none as much as one anonymous Buffaloes fan. The fan filed a lawsuit this past week suing the NFL for $100 million in punitive damages, as well as apologies for the league’s statements and actions concerning Sanders.

The fan accused the NFL of violating the Sherman Antitrust Act (on the basis of collusion between teams), the Civil Rights Act and consumer protection laws, as well as intentional infliction of emotional distress and trauma; that is, causing him “frustration, disappointment and psychological harm as a fan.” I’m sure that sounds unfamiliar to sports fans.

The complaint itself is just four pages, filed ‘in forma pauperis,’ meaning the fan was financially unable to pay the official filing fee. With both an utter lack of evidence to support his claims and no financial means to see them through, the lawsuit isn’t going anywhere.

Even so, it says a lot about the media firestorm that’s followed Sanders for the past two years. Whether it’s the flashy watch or the number retirement, the accusations of nepotism, of flippancy or anything else.

Despite the slide, which saw him finally taken at No. 144 by the Cleveland Browns, Sanders has the best-selling jersey of any 2025 NFL rookie. He might become a starting quarterback, or he might crash and burn out of the league for exactly the reasons that dropped his draft stock. But it’s publicity. And any publicity is good publicity. Right?