Shedeur Sanders gets concerning update as Browns lean more towards Dillon Gabriel

Shedeur Sanders is working with the Cleveland Browns ahead of his rookie NFL season. The former Colorado Buffaloes star didn't have the warmest welcome into the league, but after his dramatic draft slide, Sanders vowed to make the most out of this opportunity.

He's one of four quarterbacks with chances to start for the AFC North franchise next season. Joe Flacco and Kenny Pickett are the veterans in the room, while Dillon Gabriel is another rookie the Browns selected in the 2025 draft.

According to Browns insider Mary Kay Cabot, Shedeur Sanders is receiving all the attention from reporters and fans, but Gabriel is reportedly the one the Browns are focusing more on during OTAs.

"The Browns are also very, very excited about Dillon Gabriel, their third-round pick and then the way it played out yesterday, is the way that I thought it would, is that Shedeur right now is the fourth team quarterback.

"He did not take any team reps yesterday. Sometimes there’s misinformation that comes out of an OTA like that, but he just did not take any team reps... but they’re making him come up the learning curve and earn his way." (4:55)

Shedeur Sanders made a good impression on Wednesday after he connected with one of his receivers in the end zone. He finished that day with three touchdowns and only two incompletions on nine pass attempts, which made it seem as though he was turning heads within the organization.

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Former NFL quarterback says Browns should focus on Shedeur Sanders, Dillon Gabriel over Joe Flacco

The Browns' quarterback race could get pretty intense as training camp and the regular season approach. The team has several questions to answer, starting with their QB1.

Former NFL quarterback Dan Orlovsky believes that the Browns should not rule out giving the keys to one of Shedeur Sanders or Dillon Gabriel on Friday.

"I just think situation wise, you know, Joe is obviously very accomplished, but I think that you would be hard pressed to get me to start Joe Flacco if I was Kevin Stefanski and Andrew Berry," Orlovsky said.

"And I would be a little bit more like if it was very close 55-45 type of thing, Flacco to one of those rookies, either Gabriel or Shedeur, I would start them, and I would see, did we somehow stumble into fools gold?" Orlovsky said. "The only way I would start Joe is if I felt both of those rookies would be utter disasters.”

This was already an intriguing situation for the Browns, but if the rookies end up having solid training camps, the decision could be more complex than initially expected.