A 24-10 win over the Las Vegas Raiders may have been enough to earn Shedeur Sanders another start, but it certainly isn’t enough to secure his future in Cleveland. After a shaky debut against the Baltimore Ravens, Shedeur helped the Orange and brown in breaking their 13-game road losing streak. However, it doesn’t help with the looming shadow of the quarterback he has just replaced, as insiders suggest he could once again face another hurdle.

Mary Kay Cabot may have praised the rookie QB’s performance in Week 12, but she pointed out that the team could consider bringing back Dillon Gabriel. 

“Shedeur did some things. He brought some energy, some juice, some life, some points, some touchdowns, and that certainly earned him another start. That doesn’t mean they can’t ever go back to Dillon,” she said.

“There might be a world in which they need more data points about Dillon Gabriel, and they want to see more of him. That could happen. But for right now, it’s Sanders’ time, and it’s his chance to go out there and prove himself.”

So, Coach Stefanski might consider bringing Gabriel back once he is healthy, and he may have even thought about it in Week 13. After the Browns’ win, he was asked if Sanders would start the next game, but he initially refused to answer.

“I’m just going to focus on this week. Not going to get much past this week,” he said.

Gabriel had started the previous five games before his injury. In his eight starts, he completed 109 of 184 passes for 937 yards, 7 touchdowns, and 2 interceptions. While his run wasn’t impactful enough for the Browns, there was debate over whether coach Stefanski should make a change in their QB position.

That is when Sanders’ name came up.

After suffering a concussion against the Ravens in week 11, Gabriel did not return to that game. Sanders took over in the second half but struggled, completing only 4 of 16 passes, throwing 1 interception, and getting sacked twice. Despite that, he earned the chance to start the next game and continues to do so.

Kevin Stefanski makes a big QB1 decision against the 49ers

Despite Dillon Gabriel clearing the concussion protocol, Stefanski announced that Sanders will start in Week 13 against the San Francisco 49ers at Huntington Bank Field.

After all, Sanders showed a great performance in Week 12 against the Raiders. He finished the game completing 11 of 20 passes for 209 yards with one touchdown and one interception, snapping a 17-game losing streak. He became the first Browns QB since Eric Zeier to win his first career NFL start.

While Coach Stefanski may have had doubts about Sanders earlier, he spoke highly of him after the win.

“Shedeur will start this week. Obviously, the No. 1 job of a quarterback is to win,” the coach said. “So, excited to get that first win under his belt. And the next thing is improvement, and that’s what young players do. Certainly, young quarterbacks do. You get one game better, and that’s just from working at it. So, that’ll be our focus.”

“But I thought communication was really good throughout the day with him. And the big plays down the field, obviously that first one to (Isaiah Bond) was a very high degree of difficulty on that play. Are there things that he can do better? Absolutely, and we’ve already talked about that with him. He has the mentality that he will make the adjustments to the speed of the game, make the adjustments to what people are giving us to make those improvements.”

The debate now comes down to Sanders’ performance, and if he fails to keep up with the same level of performance that he showed in Week 12, there’s a chance the Browns might reconsider and turn back to Gabriel.