The Cleveland Browns first played a professional football game in 1946.
Since then, through eight league championships, painful playoff losses, puzzling draft choices, head coaches that ranged from the legendary (Paul Brown) to the worst in NFL history (Hue Jackson), and memorable players, the Browns have never had a player quite like quarterback Shedeur Sanders.
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A fifth-round draft choice in 2025 after a fall that, if the fringe elements are to be believed, was only stopped because the league office called the Browns and ordered general manager Andrew Berry to take action, Sanders navigated a rookie season where nonsense was never more than a moment away.
The draft conspiracy turned into the head coach trying to sabotage his career conspiracy, which morphed into the lack of first-team reps conspiracy, which then became the no one could succeed with the supporting cast conspiracy. (That last one may actually have some merit, except that fellow rookie quarterback Dillon Gabriel was working with the same limitations but never got the same free pass as Sanders.)
The sad part is that none of this comes from Sanders himself. While perhaps a bit goofy at times – name another quarterback who would give his head coach a porcelain horse head as a birthday present – Sanders comes across as well liked by his teammates and is putting in the work to improve, which has not always been the case with quarterbacks in this town.
With the Browns just a few weeks away from the start of training camp and facing the most depressing quarterback camp battle imaginable, it seems like the outside noise should be quieting down. But putting Sanders’ name in a headline or a sound bite results in clicks, which is why the following stories apparently exist.
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Even though head coach Todd Monken likely knows who the starting quarterback will be, he has yet to make it public, as he wants to wait for a few training camp practices to confirm his decision. And even if Deshaun Watson comes out the “winner,” given his injury history and the history of Cleveland quarterbacks this century, the Browns are going to need more than one quarterback this fall.
That hasn’t stopped the trade rumors from spreading, of course, with the New York Jets and Miami Dolphins “emerging” as the top landing spots if the Browns decide to move on from Sanders, according to The Times of India.
Unless Jerry Jones swoops in and brings Sanders to the Dallas Cowboys to back up Dak Prescott, a possibility according to Pro Football Sports Network.
But wait! Pro Football Sports Network also believes that the Tampa Bay Buccaneers would be interested in having Sanders as a backup option to Baker Mayfield, who is entering the final year of his contract amid uncertainty about his long-term future with Tampa. (And wouldn’t Mayfield and Sanders have some stories to share about playing in Cleveland!)
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As hard as it may be for some to understand, the Browns might actually be comfortable keeping Sanders on the roster no matter how things play out this summer. Jason La Confora recently explored that possibility at something called Sports Boom, which quoted an anonymous general manager as saying, “Monken loves this kid. Why would they trade him now?”
Love might be a bit of a strong word to use on a quarterback coming off one of the worst rookie seasons in the last 25 years, but Monken has spoken favorably about Sanders and all of his quarterbacks, so we’ll let that pass for the time being.
Does any of these add up to anything significant? Not really. It is more the reality of the NFL’s slow season meeting the insatiable appetite of the content machine, combined with the Sanders name, driving a lot of speculation without much substance behind it.
The good news is that the Browns open training camp at the end of this month, which means we will all have something tangible to discuss.
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Now you’ll excuse us while we get to work refreshing the training camp quarterback tracker.
