The Cleveland Browns likely had a plan all along.
Was there room for their QB depth chart to be changed during the preseason? Sure there was. With four guys in the competition, from Joe Flacco and Kenny Pickett to Shedeur Sanders and Dillon Gabriel, anything was possible.
But the reality is that there was likely nothing left to change during Saturday’s preseason finale.
After the game, Cleveland.com’s Mary Kay Cabot summed up Sanders’ role simply: “And no, the Browns aren’t cutting Shedeur Sanders.”
It didn’t matter that Sanders was 3-for-6 for 14 yards, or that he took five sacks.
Cabot wrote an article expressing that the Browns had been aligned with the “keeping four quarterbacks” plan all along.
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They likely knew Flacco would be the starter from the moment they signed the 40-year old.
Pickett was a solid trade acquisition for a small cost who could provide veteran competition.
And then in the draft, the Browns decided they had value they liked on both Gabriel in the third round and Sanders in the fifth.
As much as Sanders’ name has been involved in trade and cut speculation, that never really made sense.
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Cleveland invited a firestorm by drafting Sanders at all after his NFL Draft free fall from projected first-round pick to the fifth round and No. 144 overall. Why take him then and give up after just a couple of summer months of practices?
Preseason games have value, but one bad Sanders performance wasn’t going to ruin his career. He had a really good outing in the first week of the preseason, too. They balance out a bit now, with his oblique injury centered in between that caused him to miss the second preseason game.
Sanders’ future isn’t a given. There’s still work to do to get ahead of Gabriel on the depth chart, well before he ever gets a chance to start a game.
But as Cabot wrote, the Browns were never going to cut Sanders, not now. He’s still got an opportunity ahead of him.
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