The Opening Drive 10/8: Post-Trade Roster Moves Will Tell Story About Shedeur Sanders
With Joe Flacco off to Cincinnati, what moves the Browns make behind Dillon Gabriel will be interesting.
The Cleveland Browns made a surprising trade on Tuesday, sending their week one starter at quarterback, Joe Flacco, to divisional foe the Cincinnati Bengals. It’s the first time the two teams have ever traded with each other. They almost pushed through a trade at the 2017 trade deadline when Hue Jackson wanted to trade for A.J. McCarron. The deal was all but done, and McCarron was told he was being traded to Cleveland, but the Browns failed to submit the paperwork before the 4:00 PM deadline. As the story goes, Sashi Brown, currently in the Ravens front office, then with the Browns as the president of football operations, intentionally did not fax the paperwork in on time, ensuring that the trade would not go through.
The Browns sent Flacco and the sixth-round pick that they acquired from Detroit in the Za’Darius Smith trade. That pick will likely be a late sixth-round selection with the way the Lions are trending. In return, the Browns get back a 2026 fifth-round pick from the Bengals. The Bengals have looked terrible since losing Joe Burrow for an extended period due to a turf toe injury. Ultimately, this trade could enable the Browns to move up approximately 50-60 picks in the draft.
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What’s Next At Quarterback?
The looming question involves who will be elevated into the backup quarterback role now that Joe Flacco is headed to Cincinnati. The obvious choice for me would be Shedeur Sanders; however, Bailey Zappe is currently on the practice squad and has started nine NFL games in his career with a record of 4-5. There is some thought that when the Browns do allow Sanders to play, they would want to give him a full week of preparation while devising a game plan best suited for his success.
This could mean they do not want to put him in the middle of a game to see his first live action. If that is the case, the Browns could sign Zappe to the 53-man roster and then name Zappe the backup quarterback with the understanding that Sanders is the next man up to make a start outside of Gabriel.
The fallout from a decision to make Zappe the backup would not be favorable, and that is understandable. It is not often that Kevin Stefanski and the Browns organization as a whole is transparent about these type of decisions. If they do decide they want to name Zappe the backup, just in case the Browns were forced to make an in-game change, while also knowing that Sanders is next up to start then a clean explanation of their thought process on that topic would behoove them.
Suppose the decision is made to go with Zappe as the backup, and that leaves Sanders in the same role as the “emergency quarterback” and without any further explanation. In that case, it would speak volumes regarding how they view his progress and readiness to play in an NFL game. Playing Zappe in any role other than a practice squad elevation and making him the “emergency quarterback” strikes me as wasteful when you have another rookie quarterback there to occupy the role. That scenario would say a great deal about where they are with Sanders and highly contradict the continued positive messaging that Stefanski has relayed to the media about his progress behind the scenes to this point.
It is possible they still keep Sanders as just the “emergency quarterback” while still having intentions to make him the next starter when the time comes. However, the optics would not be ideal. Once again, complete transparency about their plan at the position would go a long way with a fan base that is eager to see him play and understands precisely what they already have in Zappe.
The unofficial depth chart, which we know does not carry significant weight as the coaching staff or front office does not compile it, however, does list Sanders as the team’s number two quarterback. We will see if that is actually the case soon enough.
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