CHARLOTTE, N.C. \u2014 The latest twist in the Cleveland Browns\u2019 quarterback competition will lead to rookie Shedeur Sanders starting Friday night\u2019s preseason opener at Carolina, a team source confirmed.<\/p>\n
With injuries in the room leading to detours and even the addition of veteran Tyler Huntley, Sanders will go from the clear fourth choice throughout the first two weeks of camp to first on the field in the preseason.<\/p>\n
Joe Flacco, the most experienced player of the group and the leader of the training camp competition, was never likely to play in Carolina. He and the Browns\u2019 starters will be on the field Wednesday morning for a joint practice with the Panthers, but the team\u2019s best and most experienced players likely won\u2019t play in either of the first two preseason games.<\/p>\n
Veteran quarterback Kenny Pickett has been a limited participant for more than a week due to a hamstring injury, and Browns coach Kevin Stefanski said rookie Dillon Gabriel was dealing with hamstring tightness. Stefanski said Gabriel would be limited in Monday\u2019s practice, and Gabriel participated but sat out the final drill, ceding snaps to Sanders.<\/p>\n
Through 10 days of camp, Sanders is the only one of the four Browns quarterbacks not to take snaps with the No. 1 offense. He piloted the No. 2 offense in one drill last week against the Browns\u2019 No. 1 defense, but the majority of his snaps in camp have come with and against the No. 3 units.<\/p>\n
The decision to start Sanders on Friday would indicate that Gabriel either won\u2019t play or will be limited. Pickett has been to practice after missing three days, but he\u2019ll continue to be eased in. Sanders sat out some of Saturday\u2019s practice due to arm soreness, but he returned Monday and said he\u2019ll be fine.<\/p>\n
Wednesday\u2019s joint practice should provide some clarity on the Browns\u2019 exact thinking and availability for Friday. Sanders likely won\u2019t take No. 1 reps in the joint practice, but he\u2019ll have that practice and a Thursday walk-through to further prepare \u2014 and potentially the chance to play the full game in the preseason opener.<\/p>\n
Huntley was officially added to the quarterback room Tuesday in a move that basically affirmed Sanders as the Friday starter. Huntley spent time with the Browns in the spring and summer of 2024 and can serve as an emergency backup until Gabriel and Pickett are ready for full competition.<\/p>\n
Last week, Panthers coach Dave Canales said he planned to play most of his starters in the preseason opener.<\/p>\n
(Photo: Nick Cammett \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"CHARLOTTE, N.C. \u2014 The latest twist in the Cleveland Browns\u2019 quarterback competition will lead to rookie Shedeur Sanders…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":122158,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[8996,1544,51,50,1232,52],"class_list":{"0":"post-122157","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-news","8":"tag-carolina-panthers","9":"tag-cleveland-browns","10":"tag-headlines","11":"tag-news","12":"tag-nfl","13":"tag-top-stories"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114978824176644892","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/122157","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=122157"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/122157\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/122158"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=122157"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=122157"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=122157"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}