Cleveland Browns Face Backlash From NFL Players on QB Shedeur Sanders Decision

Heading into the bye week, it would appear to be a good time for the Browns to take a deep breath, evaluate the roster and make a decision on how to proceed with the second half of the season. That’s how most organizations would handle the rough start Cleveland has had. But with his postgame declaration on Sunday that he was sticking with struggling quarterback Dillon Gabriel over fellow rookie Shedeur Sanders, coach Kevin Stefanski pretty well announced he’s not going to get into any genuine self-reflection.

And across the league, former NFL players–from LeSean McCoy to Shaun King–are weighing in on the bizarre fealty that Stefanski and the team are showing Gabriel, who is 1-3 as the starter and rated No. 36 out of 36 quarterbacks by Pro Football Focus.

Said former veteran lineman Richie Incognito: “Gabriel played like (expletive). You don’t take the bye week to evaluate, ‘Hey, should we give this kid (Sanders) a chance? Is he going to give us a shot in the arm?’ … This situation stinks. There’s some bull (expletive) going on.”

Browns’ Stefanski Has an Issue With Shedeur Sanders

That’s been the theme of the week, and it is not likely to change with the bye week. The Browns, despite their 2-6 record, have a chance to get back into the race for the AFC North division, which is led by the 4-3 Steelers. But it’s not happening with Gabriel at the helm.

Stefanski’s stubbornness was an issue for former NFL quarterback Robert Griffin III.

“When you look at a guy like Shedeur Sanders, every chance Kevin Stefanski has gotten, to put him down, to not put him in a position to be successful, he has done it,” 

Griffin said. “Kevin Stefanski owes it to the locker to give Shedeur Sanders an opportunity to compete, to have a pathway to the field, no different than any other player. What Kevin Stefanski is telling us straight to our faces is that Dillon Gabriel is his guy, and he will never start Shedeur Sanders.”

Shedeur Sanders Was a Better Prospect Than Dillon Gabriel

Former NFL quarterback Shaun King, speaking on “The Ultimate Cleveland Sports Show,” said the problem is that the Browns never should have picked Gabriel in the first place and don’t want to admit a mistake.

“The most egregious pick in the 2025 draft was the Browns picking Dillon Gabriel in the third round,” King said, who was a second-round pick himself. “There’s no way you can evaluate the quarterback position and have him rating as a higher prospect than Shedeur Sanders. There’s no way you can be an astute quarterback evaluator and think he was worthy of an asset as valuable as a third-round pick. We’ve got to  get to the root of the problem here. That was an egregious draft pick.

“That was a terrible draft pick. Now, don’t accelerate the mistake by continuing down the path that you never should have went down in the first place. It’s time to go to Shedeur Sanders simply because he was a better prospect coming out of college than Dillon Gabriel.”