Browns Are ‘Wasting Time’ Without Shedeur - Gabriel Isn’t the Answer
The Cleveland Browns are running out of time to turn their season around. Sitting at 2-6 and desperate for stability under center, the team is making a notable adjustment heading into Week 10 against the New York Jets. Rookie quarterback Shedeur Sanders has officially been cleared to play and will serve as the backup QB on Sunday.
Reporter Emmanuel Oyefusi confirmed the news on X (formerly Twitter), noting that “Shedeur Sanders does not have a game status and will be the backup QB on Sunday after being inactive in Week 8 with a back injury.”
Analyst Connor Rogers did not mince words when addressing Cleveland’s current quarterback situation. On 92.3 The Fan, Rogers said the Browns are “wasting time” by not giving Shedeur Sanders a real opportunity, arguing that the team’s developmental strategy makes little sense.
“It feels like if you’re the Browns right now, you need to get a look at everything you possibly can because you’re going into a draft where you might have to make another quarterback decision,”
The rookie, drafted 144th overall in the 2025 NFL Draft, has yet to make his regular-season debut but impressed during training camp, consistently taking second-team reps before his injury.
Furthermore, Rogers directly called out Dillon Gabriel’s inconsistent play, questioning Stefanski’s continued commitment to the 24-year-old starter.
“I watch their offense as much as I can with Dillon Gabriel. You just can’t live in the NFL that way, man. It’s a very hard way to play football.”
In four starts, Gabriel has completed 59.9% of his passes for 702 yards, five touchdowns, and two interceptions, figures nearly identical to what Joe Flacco produced earlier in the season. More concerning, Gabriel has yet to throw for 250 yards in a game, with his season-high of 221 yards underscoring the unit’s offensive stagnation.
Even after a two-interception outing against New England, Stefanski reaffirmed that Gabriel will remain the starter in Week 10. According to PFSN’s QB Impact metric, Gabriel holds a QB Impact Score of 52.3, ranking 37th in the NFL and earning an overall “F” grade for his performance. One’s gotta ask, how much worse could Shedeur be?
Clearly frustrated, Rogers criticized how NFL teams, including Cleveland, mismanage their young talent:
“It just blows my mind. Billion-dollar organizations with massive staff don’t have the right plan for these guys or put them in square peg, round hole situations. The Shedeur case just feels like a waste of everyone’s time.”
Given the Browns’ offensive inconsistency and lack of long-term clarity at quarterback, Sanders’ return represents both insurance and opportunity. If Gabriel continues to struggle, Stefanski could be pressured to give Sanders his first real shot, one that Rogers and many around the league believe is long overdue.
Browns QB Shedeur Sanders Gets Bad News About His NFL Future
Shedeur Sanders hasn’t taken a single regular-season snap for the Cleveland Browns, but the rookie quarterback is already facing questions about his future.
Sanders is currently the backup in Cleveland to Dillon Gabriel, who has gone 1-3 in his starts this season. Despite Gabriel’s struggles, the Browns have shown little interest in giving Sanders a shot.
In ESPN’s midseason mock draft, analysts Mike Greenberg, Field Yates, and Mel Kiper Jr. projected the Browns to select Oregon quarterback Dante Moore with the No. 6 overall pick — a move that would immediately put pressure on Sanders’ standing in Cleveland.
According to their projections, Moore would be the third quarterback off the board, following Indiana’s Fernando Mendoza, who goes No. 1 to the New Orleans Saints, and Alabama’s Ty Simpson, who lands with the New York Jets at No. 3.
“This is tough,” Kiper said. “Shedeur is there. It doesn’t seem like they’ll ever give Shedeur much of a chance, right? Dillon Gabriel is playing, but we don’t think Dillon Gabriel is a franchise quarterback. … Dante Moore, for me, I still have him number one on the board.”
Steelers' Payton Wilson Describes Difficult Point Of Rookie Year In 2024: 'This Isn't The Football I Love'
The Pittsburgh Steelers have some exciting young players on the roster that seem like they could be foundational pieces of the future of the franchise. One of those players is inside linebacker Payton Wilson, who the franchise was able to draft in the third round of the 2024 NFL Draft. Wilson was initially thought to be a fringe Day 1 pick, but some medical concerns dropped his draft stock as it was revealed during the NFL Scouting Combine that he was missing an ACL in his right knee. Pittsburgh didn't care too much about that, as the organization submitted the card with Wilson's name on it with the 98th overall pick.
Rookie walls are always something that is talked about during a player's first season in the NFL. Many fans don't realize it, but rookies are going at 100 percent for well over a year by the time their season comes to an end. A player goes through their final college season, intense training for the NFL Combine, and the upcoming year, straight into a media circus that is the NFL Draft -- and then basically right to rookie minicamp. There is no stopping, so it is very easy for rookies to hit a mental or physical wall. Wilson was asked about this by his teammate
"As we all should be, I was really emotionally invested to each outcome of every game," Wilson said. "It was really taking a toll. Especially those three we lost in 10 days. I was like, 'What is happening? This isn't the football I love.' Just getting my head beat in every week. So it was just balancing a lot of that."
It sounded like Wilson's rookie wall was more mental than physical, and it happened right when Pittsburgh was forced to go through an absolute gauntlet of a schedule to end the year. Pittsburgh played three games over the span of 10 days, with one of those games coming against the Baltimore Ravens and the other two being played against the two teams that wound up meeting in Super Bowl LIX.
Pittsburgh lost its final four games of the regular season in 2024, and the team was then embarrassed by the Ravens in the Wild Card Round of the playoffs. Throughout that stretch of games, the defense struggled to stop the run, which meant things were not going well for Wilson and the rest of the unit.
That time of year was horrific for Pittsburgh. The team lost its chance at winning the AFC North and hosting a playoff game, and the team instead had to travel to play its number one rival in the postseason. That time began to make Wilson question his love for football, which he has clearly regained by the way he has been playing in 2025.
Steelers' Payton Wilson Has Impressed In His Second Season
Wilson has played very well in his second year with the team, and he seems to be hitting his stride after a strong performance in a win over the Indianapolis Colts in Week 9. The young linebacker could be considered one of the team's best players during that game, as he seemed to be everywhere while having a nose for the ball. Wilson recorded 14 total tackles in the game, including 10 solo takedowns. He also was able to pick off Daniel Jones, which set up the offense to go ahead and score a touchdown two plays later. He also batted a ball up in the air that wound up being picked off my rookie outside linebacker Jack Sawyer.
It is no overstatement to say that Wilson was completely dominant in Pittsburgh's win over Indianapolis, and hopefully that type of play continues from the young defender.
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