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Rookie Quarterback Shedeur Sanders is currently in Quarterback the shield with Cleveland Browns. But a top NFL -Quarterback agent believes there is still hope for his career as a starting.
Sanders ‘teammate and colleague -rookie -quarterback Dillon Gabriel has been named Browns’ start -quarterback, with the team shopping veteran Joe Flacco to Cincinnati Bengals Tuesday.
Sanders, now the team’s second-strings behind Gabriel, asked attention in mixed media last week when asked that Gabriel was appointed the starter. Sanders responded by silently to mouth words without speaking, like a mime.
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Cleveland Browns Quarterback Shhedeur Sanders, Front, goes off the field after the NFL football team’s rookie mini stamp in Berea, Ohio, Saturday, May 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)
Agent Leigh Steinberg, who has represented a record eight no. 1 total draft election, suggested that he believes Sanders’ response was a product of competitive frustration.
“I thought he was doing well with the answer,” Steinberg told Pakinomist Digital. “It’s unrealistic to expect players to be excited and happy with a backup situation.”
Still, Steinberg would have hoped that Sanders would give a more comprehensive answer whose rookie was his client.
“I think the answer would realistically be in two parts. Number one,” is clear, I’m eager to be a starter in this league and I think it’s my fate, but in the meantime I will do everything I can to support Dillon Gabriel. “I think that’s the answer,” Steinberg said.
Gabriel passed in 190 yards with two touchdowns and no interception in his first start for Browns on Sunday, but the team lost to Minnesota Vikings 21-17. Gabriel served the first second strict place for Cleveland after being selected with the team’s third round elections in this year’s draft.
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Cleveland Brown’s Quarterback Dillon Gabriel (8) seems to pass the ball against Minnesota Vikings in the second quarter of an NFL International Series game at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on October 5, 2025. (Kirby Lee/Imag- Pictures)
Despite being considered a superior view than Gabriel who came out of college, Sanders was not elected before the fifth round when Browns chose him with the 144th election. Sanders was an expected challenger to the overall overall choice that went into the draft, but fell all the way to the fifth round of one of the most surprising and unprecedented draft slides in the NFL history.
And now Sanders is referred to a backup role behind another rookie in Cleveland, as Gabriel could prove to be Browns’ long-term starter, leaving Sanders without a clear way to become a starter himself. But Steinberg, as an agent, thinks it’s “almost certain” that Sanders starts on quarterback at some point this year.
Steinberg also believes that sitting still will be beneficial for Sanders’ stock as a quarterback in the long term.
“If Dillon Gabriel ends up being the quarterback of the future, another will give Shedsur Sanders a chance,” Steinberg said.
Skyeseur Sanders from Cleveland Browns warms up before the game against Green Bay Packers at Huntington Bank Field on September 21, 2025 in Cleveland, Ohio. (Jason Miller/Getty Images)
“Use time as a backup to learn as much as [you can]. Not to start the first year, Jump started careers for Jordon Love, Patrick Mahomes, Aaron Rodgers – all these players sat for a year. ”
Steinberg said the amount of time Sanders patient should wait as a backup is “after a few years” before pursuing a new team.
“At this point, all you know as an agent for the backup is that someone else gets their chance and we’ll see and make decisions later, depending on what that situation is later,” Steinberg said.
