Of all the coaches in the league, the Browns’ HC Kevin Stefanski is under the most pressure. Not the performance, but more about the choice. Who’s going to be their QB1? Frankly, things were going great until the 3rd round of the 2025 NFL Draft when they drafted Dillon Gabriel. But in the 5th round, they drafted Shedeur Sanders. Since then, the Colorado rookie has been making more headlines than any other player from this year’s draft. Lately, all the talk has been going against him, from being traded to not starting for the franchise in 2025. But the Sanders Nation finally got a sigh of relief.
It wasn’t framed as a major announcement. But anyone listening to the July 29 episode of The Ken Carman Show with Anthony Lima on 92.3 The Fan knew something was up. The segment got loaded when Carman revealed how the rookie wanted to get signed among the top 4 players, trying to break his father’s record of 5th overall pick in 1989. But he then added. “So when we’re talking about competitions and wanting to see him with ones?” Carman paused, then said it plainly, “I don’t need to see him with the ones in the first week of training camp.”
That statement might sound fine. But the tone? That was everything. It was a calculated recognition that Shedeur Sanders isn’t competing for a roster spot; he’s preparing for a role. And not just any role. The QB1 job. Because let’s be honest, Kevin Stefanski is still waiting to announce QB1. Yet, by most accounts, the veteran Joe Flacco could be the week 1 QB.
”I don’t need to see him with the 1’s in the first week of training camp…I’m sure we’ll have our game where Shedeur will start.”@KenCarman tells @SportsBoyTony not to worry if Shedeur is not getting reps with the 1’s because he will eventually.
: https://t.co/OKy834xvLu pic.twitter.com/1fPR5TPtPM
— 92.3 The Fan (@923TheFan) July 29, 2025
Then came the money quote, “I’m sure we’ll have our game at some point where Shedeur is gonna start.” Read that again. That’s a declaration of future deployment. Add this to it, “I don’t think he’s gonna get cut. I damn sure don’t think he’s gonna get traded. I don’t think either of those things is gonna happen.” Twice said. That’s territory-marking.
Most telling of all was this, “I think we’ll eventually get our chance, because somewhere, there’s untapped potential that we need to tap into.” That’s Kevin Stefanski thinking not as a passer-by, but as a coach already invested in what Shedeur Sanders could be. With a 74% pass accuracy in the final season for Colorado, Sanders isn’t a developmental third-stringer. He’s not a camp novelty. He’s the contingency plan. And possibly, the chosen one, waiting.
GM Andrew Berry will also be eager to join the bandwagon, especially after what the Browns’ owner, Jimmy Haslam, just did.
Can Kevin Stefanski’s rookie save the pride of the Browns GM?
Speaking Tuesday night, July 29, Haslam did what many around the league have been waiting to see. He distanced himself subtly but unmistakably from the Shedeur Sanders selection. “We have a good process,” Haslam began, before quietly aiming the spotlight at his GM.
“We had a conversation early that morning, and then we had a conversation later that day. I think we had the right people involved in the conversation. At the end of the day, that’s Andrew Berry’s call. Andrew made the call to pick Shedeur.” That wasn’t support. That was a hand-wash.
For weeks, speculation swirled that Haslam himself had driven the pick, enchanted, perhaps, by the Prime-Time mystique or the media attention Sanders inevitably brings. But on Tuesday, Haslam essentially flipped the narrative. If Shedeur struggles, or worse, never cracks the starting lineup, it’s now Berry’s burden, not Haslam’s.
However, the GM has always placed the burden collectively on coach Kevin Stefanski and others in the front office. “We do believe in best player available, we do believe in positional value, and we didn’t necessarily expect him to be available in the fifth round,” Berry said in April. According to Berry, the original plan wasn’t even to take two quarterbacks. That second QB only came into play because Sanders, who some saw as a day 2 talent, unexpectedly slipped to day 3. It was a unique opportunity.
Now, the focus lies on the rookie. Kevin Stefanski is still ready to change his order of QBs.
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