The Cleveland Browns have made it through Week 4 of the NFL season with a 3-1 record. They’re coming off a Thursday Night Football win over the Pittsburgh Steelers, and there’s no sugarcoating it. The Browns are one of the biggest surprises in the NFL to this point.

Quarterback Deshaun Watson is playing well enough to keep the starting job. However, one problem Cleveland had going into the season never went away. The Browns simply delayed it, and it’s about to come back up.

Browns pushed a quarterback decision down the road

The Browns went through the preseason with four quarterbacks on the roster and never had to part ways with one. Cleveland opted to move QB Dillon Gabriel to the injured reserve with a back injury. That kept him out the first four games at least and delayed a roster decision the Browns are going to have to make.

Now four games have passed. Gabriel will soon come off injured reserve, and that will leave the Browns with a decision to make on their 53-man roster.

Gabriel doesn’t have to return for the Week 5 game against the New York Jets. Still, a 21-day window will open soon for his return. That’s going to force Cleveland to sort out the quarterback room behind Watson.

The decision comes down to either cutting or trading one of Gabriel or Shedeur Sanders. The Browns don’t have the luxury of keeping four quarterbacks, and there’s no need to. One of those players is likely to be cut, with the team trying to get him back to the practice squad, or sent elsewhere in the NFL.

Rookie sixth-round pick Taylen Green looks safe through all of this. The Browns aren’t going to subject him to waivers and risk losing him to another team that could claim him. That means this decision truly comes down to Gabriel and Sanders.

Gabriel made six starts for the Browns last year. He threw seven touchdown passes and two interceptions, but he had just 937 passing yards during that time. Gabriel is a limited quarterback at 5-foot-11. On the flip side, he’s an accurate passer who can run an offense.

Sanders also had seven touchdown passes last year, but he paired them with 10 interceptions. He made seven starts, went 3-4 with Cleveland, and threw for 1,400 yards. The thing with Sanders is he’s going to push the ball downfield more. He’s also going to turn the ball over more. That’s something you live and die with when he’s your quarterback.

Backup job could shift depending on Browns’ choice

There’s another layer to this. Sanders is the backup to Watson right now. If the Browns decide to part ways with him, that pecking order changes and Gabriel would likely step into the QB2 role.

Keeping Sanders means holding on to a quarterback with more arm talent and more volatility. Keeping Gabriel means leaning on a steadier, more conservative option behind a starter who has played well enough to hold the job. Either way, Cleveland is going to lose a quarterback it invested in, whether through a release or a trade.

It won’t be an easy call for a team that has found early success. The next couple of weeks are going to be telling for the Browns and these quarterbacks, to say the least.