The Cleveland Browns plan to give Shedeur Sanders the start at quarterback in their preseason opener Friday at the Carolina Panthers, Cleveland.com and ESPN reported Tuesday.
The news comes just one day after Cleveland listed Sanders as its QB4 on the unofficial depth chart for the week and reportedly signed free agent QB Tyler Huntley.
However, Kenny Pickett and Sanders’ fellow rookie Dillon Gabriel are both dealing with hamstring injuries, and the team’s other quarterback, 40-year-old Joe Flacco, does not have much to prove in a preseason setting.
It’s unclear how severe Pickett’s and Gabriel’s injuries are. Sanders and Huntley may split the workload at Carolina if the Browns do not plan to play their other quarterbacks.
Sanders, 23, was widely expected to be a first-round draft pick and one of the first quarterbacks selected last April. Instead, he dropped to the fifth round, where the Browns drafted him 144th overall – two rounds after they drafted Gabriel from Oregon.
After a prolific college career playing for his father Deion Sanders at Jackson State and Colorado, Shedeur Sanders is battling for a roster spot. As of Monday, Sanders was the only QB yet to be given first-team reps.
