The Cleveland Browns are 3-1 after beating the Pittsburgh Steelers on Thursday Night Football. After a Week 1 loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars, they’re on a three-game win streak. With Deshaun Watson exceeding expectations, what is Shedeur Sanders’ future?
Following his 2021 holdout from the Houston Texans, Watson was traded to the Browns in a blockbuster. Cleveland sent over three first-round picks (2022, 2023, 2024), two fourth-round picks (2022, 2024), and a third-round pick (2023). In exchange, they received the QB and a 2024 sixth-round pick.
The Browns followed up the trade by signing Watson to a fully guaranteed five-year, $230 million contract. Through his first four seasons, he appeared in 19 games, throwing for 3,365 yards, 19 touchdowns, and 12 interceptions.
After missing the 2025 season, Watson is back under center and playing surprisingly well. He has a 69.6 completion percentage, the second-highest of his career. He’s gone 80/115 for 855 yards, six touchdowns, and two interceptions.
In his final season with the Texans, Watson threw for a league-leading 4,823 yards, along with 33 touchdowns and seven interceptions. His production and availability fell off a cliff when he got to Cleveland… until now.
The structure of Watson’s contract allows the Browns to cut him before March 13th, 2027. They’d take on a dead cap hit of $86.2 million, but could split it across the next two seasons, with $34.7 million in 2027 and $51.5 million in 2028.
In 2025, Browns co-owner Jimmy Haslam acknowledged that trading for Watson may have been a mistake.
“We took a big swing-and-miss with Deshaun… We thought we had the quarterback; we didn’t… so we’ve got to dig ourselves out of that hole.”
The only way Watson will stay under center for the Browns is if he returns to his Houston form. So far, he’s led the team to three straight wins. If history is any indicator, the front office has a valid reason to be wary.
Sanders was taken by Cleveland 144th overall in the 2025 NFL Draft. Oregon’s Dillon Gabriel was also taken 94thoverall in that same Draft. The former was expected to go as high as the first round but fell all the way into the fifth.
Sanders started seven games for the Browns in his rookie year. In that span, he threw for 1,400 yards, seven touchdowns, and 10 interceptions with a completion percentage of 56.6. After an offseason QB battle, the starting job in 2026 went to Watson.
If the Browns don’t believe Watson will work out in the long run, they can’t let Sanders go. He’s been recognized as the second-best QB on the roster despite being a development project.
If Watson continues to win games as Cleveland’s starter, Sanders will undoubtedly stay on the bench. If the veteran shows any signs of decline, the “Dawg Pound” will not hesitate to clamor for the Colorado product to get the nod.
With Gabriel coming off injured reserve sooner than later, it’s extremely unlikely that the Browns would entertain a trade for Sanders. Behind them is sixth-round rookie Taylen Green, who has been inactive through the start of the season.
Given Watson’s injury history, the Browns’ QB room can quickly see Green as the starter in a post-Sanders world. Of course, everyone has a price, and trading a promising young QB is always a possibility.
Cleveland’s minimum price for Sanders would surely be a fifth-round pick. The New York Giants traded a 2027 fifth-rounder for the 10th pick in the 2024 Draft, J.J. McCarthy. Despite being taken on day three of his respective draft, Sanders has been viewed in a similar light in the NFL.
Depending on the landing spot, the Browns could ask for an even higher price. All it takes is a team losing its starter to make a panic move for a young, developing QB.
At this point in time, it’s more likely that Cleveland would trade Gabriel over Sanders. The Oregon product is set to return from IR sooner rather than later, and is a long shot to earn the starting job in the near future.
With Green being viewed as a development project, and Sanders being the clear QB2 behind Watson, Gabriel’s roster spot may already be gone. He was a third-round pick in 2025 and showed promise in his limited starts.
In six NFL starts last season, Gabriel went 110/187 for 937 yards, seven touchdowns, and two interceptions. He doesn’t have the ceiling that Sanders does, but he has a higher floor.
At 25 years old, Gabriel is the most pro-ready of Cleveland’s three backups. He presents a great insurance policy for another team, rather than a project.
The Browns should absolutely hold onto Sanders in 2026. With Watson’s long-term future still unclear, having a young QB with starting potential is extremely important. Given the team’s QB history, they can’t afford to lose him.
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