Cleveland Browns may have just shown how they feel about Shedeur Sanders with their trade involving another AFC North team
A big trade for the Browns has them clearly looking toward the future.
We don’t often see trades made within the AFC North from one team to another. One just happened and the Cleveland Browns agreed to a trade with the Cincinnati Bengals for the first time since they returned to Northeast Ohio in 1999. A couple of weeks after the Browns decided to bench QB Joe Flacco, they’ve now traded him to the Cincinnati Bengals. Cleveland sent a sixth-round pick with Flacco in exchange for a fifth-round pick in 2026. With the trade being made, the Browns are clearly looking toward the future.
Shedeur Sanders is a play away from being the starting quarterback for the Browns
The Browns benched Flacco after the Week 4 loss to the Detroit Lions and rolled with Dillon Gabriel in last weekend’s loss to the Minnesota Vikings in London. Gabriel was 19-of-33 passing for 190 yards and a pair of touchdowns against the Vikings in what was turnover-free football for the rookie quarterback. Cleveland got their first on-field look at their third-round pick from Oregon during the regular season and he had his ups and downs. In that Week 5 game, it was Flacco who backed up Gabriel, and that’s obviously no longer.
Sanders is now the backup to Gabriel this coming Sunday against the Pittsburgh Steelers and a snap away from having to be the guy out there. That is at least for the time being, as the Browns could make another move like bring up Bailey Zappe to be the backup. It was previously reported that the Browns didn’t want Sanders as the backup to Gabriel’s game plan with the offense, but the Browns have to feel good about the plan there. Both rookie quarterbacks showed ups and downs in the preseason where they handled the majority of the work. Gabriel has been ahead of Sanders the whole way and that makes sense, as Sanders is a fifth-round pick.
Cleveland is going to get to evaluate both rookie quarterbacks this season and they’ve already seen one in the first five weeks. The Browns have to find out what they have in these two guys currently on the roster with two first-round picks next year thanks to their draft night trade with the Jacksonville Jaguars back in April. Cleveland trading Flacco tells you that they’re comfortable with Sanders having to get on the field.