Quarterback was a dark-horse position for the Browns to explore in the draft. The franchise already had three quarterbacks—Deshaun Watson, Shedeur Sanders, and Dillon Gabriel—before they drafted Taylen Green. His addition has now led to the murmurs around Sanders’ potential exit from the team to grow louder. However, Browns icon Joe Thomas cautioned the franchise against pursuing this idea.

“If somebody’s going to give you a first-round draft choice for Sanders, yeah, maybe then you want to trade him,” Thomas said on the 92.3 The Fan. “That makes sense. But if you’re just going to throw him away for a fourth round or lower, it makes no sense whatsoever because we still have no idea what he can be as our starting quarterback. And to your point, it’s not like we’ve got a starter sitting there going, ‘Yep, this is our franchise guy.’

“I mean, if Deshaun wins the job, it’s because he gives you the best opportunity and option right there. But we expect that Shedeur is going to continue to grow and learn and become a much better player midway through the season than he is right now.”

Taylen Green also comes with a lot of upside, having thrown for a total of 12,067 offensive yards and 94 total touchdowns. He was selected higher than Shedeur Sanders, who was drafted in the fifth round by Cleveland last year. However, it is still too early to deem Sanders an expendable option.

Sanders’ debut with the Browns was not an impressive one. However, he was the most productive QB last year for the Browns, going 3-4 as a starter. It’s better than the 1-5 that Dillon Gabriel recorded before Sanders took over, amid Watson missing the whole season because of a torn Achilles. There are a lot of areas where Sanders needs to clean up his game, but there’s a lot to look forward to.

Head coach Todd Monken declared this offseason that the Browns have two starting quarterback options. He never named who they were, but it is evident that they were Watson and Sanders. The veteran is the presumed winner of the QB1 battle, as there is a lot of optimism around his health this year. Sanders was never going to outshine Watson, but he is leaving no stone unturned to prove his worth to the team.

“I really did think it was going to be Deshaun Watson,” Cabot said on Orange and Brown Talk. “That’s the way it looked at the end of voluntary minicamp in April. He looked like he had more command of the offense. But as OTAs and minicamp went along, Shedeur closed that gap. And now, heading into camp, it’s sort of a dead heat for that job. And I don’t know how it’s going to turn out. I really don’t.”

Shedeur Sanders could definitely do with a fresh start, but it could also happen with the Cleveland Browns. He has only spent one year in the league, and he didn’t even get to play the full season. He could definitely use a proper opportunity to convince his skeptics that he’s not the bust that everyone is predicting him to be.