Shedeur’s Browns outlook cloudy
Reports say Cleveland’s interest in drafting Ty Simpson could complicate Shedeur Sanders’ path to QB1, even though Sanders appeared in eight games (seven starts) as a rookie and closed the season with a Pro Bowl trip. (Yahoo flagged the Browns’ QB interest and recent pieces assessed Sanders’ rookie starts and flashes while Sporting News noted the coaching staff’s tempered take on his college system translating to the NFL.) (sports.yahoo.com) (sports.yahoo.com) (sportingnews.com)
Cleveland’s quarterback picture is unsettled again, and pre-draft interest in Alabama quarterback Ty Simpson has put new doubt around Shedeur Sanders’ path to the Browns’ Week 1 job. (sports.yahoo.com) The Browns still have three quarterbacks on the roster in mid-April: Sanders, Dillon Gabriel and Deshaun Watson, who is working back from the Achilles injury that wiped out his 2025 season. Cleveland also holds nine picks in the April 23-25 draft, including first-round selections at No. 6 and No. 24. (clevelandbrowns.com) General manager Andrew Berry said this week that drafting a quarterback remains possible, and Cleveland.com’s Mary Kay Cabot said on the Orange and Brown Talk podcast that Berry spoke “in glowing terms” about Simpson. Cabot said she does not expect Simpson at No. 6 or No. 24, but said the Browns’ work on him is real. (sports.yahoo.com) Sanders did play his way into the conversation late last season. He appeared in eight games, started seven, and finished 2025 with 1,400 passing yards, seven touchdowns, 10 interceptions and a 3-4 record as a starter. (pro-football-reference.com) He also ended the year with a Pro Bowl trip, but that came as an alternate after Super Bowl-bound Drake Maye became unavailable. Yahoo Sports noted Sanders was added after a season in which he completed 56.6% of his passes. (sports.yahoo.com) What changed in Cleveland is the coaching staff. The Browns hired Todd Monken as head coach on Jan. 28, and Monken has not framed the job as Sanders’ to keep. (clevelandbrowns.com) Monken said this week that mobility helps, but he wants a starter who completes passes on third down and in two-minute situations. Sporting News also reported Monken has given Sanders some grace for coming from a Colorado offense he did not view as ready-made for National Football League translation. (sportingnews.com 1) (sportingnews.com 2) Berry has been saying for weeks that the Browns are keeping their options open in the quarterback room. At the NFL Annual Meeting on March 29, the team’s official site said a decision on the 2026 starter still lies ahead. (clevelandbrowns.com) That leaves Sanders in a familiar Cleveland setup: promise, but no guarantees. If the Browns add Simpson or another rookie next week, Sanders would head into training camp competing not just with Watson and Gabriel, but with a new draft investment too. (sports.yahoo.com)
