Shedeur Sanders turned heads in his NFL preseason debut Friday night, throwing for 138 yards and two touchdowns to no interceptions.
The Browns selected him in the fifth round with the No. 144 pick in April's NFL draft after a dramatic slide. He is a part of a crowded quarterback room which also includes Joe Flacco, Kenny Pickett and Dillon Gabriel. While Sanders isn't expected to start and is currently listed as a third-string QB under Gabriel on Cleveland's depth chart, the impressive outing and a potential continued strong preseason could improve his standing among the group.
After the 30-10 preseason win over the Panthers where Sanders played the entire first half and three drives in the third quarter, Browns coach Kevin Stefanski didn't want to get into his team's QB competition.
Per Cleveland.com's Mary Kay Cabot, Stefanski said postgame that he's "not diving into the quarterback competition" after Sanders's start Friday.
"The situations were invaluable for Shedeur and all of our offense," he said after the game via Scott Procter of DNVR Buffs. "We got a third-and-1 where he had a quarterback sneak. I mean, there's just a lot of football and that's by design with him getting a ton of reps in this game, and he'll get a ton of reps next week as well. That's all part of our development of our young players."
Flacco is listed as the starter on Cleveland's current depth chart with Pickett as the second-string QB. The depth chart seems to be fluid with the team yet to announce their starter for Week 1 of the regular season. Although it may not result in an immediate starting job, Sanders has the opportunity to continue proving himself with ample reps in the preseason. The Browns' next preseason game is Aug. 16 when they travel once again to take on the Eagles.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Kevin Stefanski Didn't Want to Talk About QB Depth Chart After Shedeur Sanders Debut.