NFL insider reveals who will be Browns QB in 2026 amid Shedeur Sanders making shocking history

The Cleveland Browns will look very different entering the 2026 NFL season.

After finishing with a 5-12 record and fourth in the AFC North in the 2025 campaign, the Browns hierarchy ultimately decided to part ways with head coach Kevin Stefanski after six seasons at the helm.

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With a new head coach due to appointed, it still remains to be seen whether Shedeur Sanders will keep his position as the Browns’ starting quarterback.

Despite having suffered an all-time slide in the 2025 NFL draft, and then having to navigate up from fourth on the depth chart, the 23-year-old earned the starting nod for the last seven games of the season.

In that span with Sanders under center, the Browns went 3-4.

But with the expected return of $230 million Deshaun Watson, there are questions over whether the son of NFL icon Deion Sanders will get another opportunity to be Cleveland’s QB1 next season.

NFL insider Mel Kiper, though, argues that he has proved his worth and done more than enough to make that position his own going forward.

“What the h*ll has he got to do? I mean, is there a way to get into this? I mean, I don’t know what else the kids needs to do,” Kiper declared.

“I mean, Josh Allen had haters in Year 3. So if Josh Allen has haters in Year 2 and 3 of his career, there’s no way Shedeur can avoid it. But I watched every play, every snap of Shedeur Sanders.

“He should be proud of what he had to go through and survive and to come out winning that game, driving him down to get in the field goal range inside of 50 yards to make that field goal and win it after, I guess, it could have been 21-12 had [Sal] Cannella caught the football.

“Drops hurt that team all year, to be able to show more mobility than anybody thought. The accuracy’s there. Everything about Shedeur Sanders screams he’s the quarterback.”

Once Kiper got going on his rant, he just couldn’t stop.

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“But if people are going to negative in April, they’re going to be negative now because they’re going to look, oh, where was he ranked? Forget that. Look at the interceptions that were off of Jerry Jeudy, off of [Quinshon] Judkins’ shoulder, batted balls,” Kiper added.

“[Joe] Burrow had one yesterday, batted in a pick six. You gonna blame Burrow for that? No, you’re gonna blame Shedeur for a couple of batted balls that were picked up. You shouldn’t. Okay. So you’re going to be fair here.”

“So really, when you look at what Shedeur did this year, not having any training camp with, never with the ones, defense, offense, be thrown out there playing in brutal weather conditions…” Kiper added.

“If you’re going to sit there and tell me you weren’t impressed with the rookie year of Shedeur Sanders, I would say you weren’t watching the same game I was.”

Sanders made unwanted history

The former Colorado Buffaloes star had to bide his time to make his NFL debut, much like he had to bide his time waiting to hear his name called out in the draft back in April.

Throughout the course of the season, it appeared that Stefanski had a preference for fellow rookie Dillon Gabriel, showcased by the fact that Sanders didn’t get any first team reps until he stepped out on the field in Week 11 after his teammate suffered a concussion.

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Nonetheless, despite Stefanski later admitting he wanted to redshirt Sanders’ rookie campaign, the 23-year-old continued to show flashes of being an NFL-level quarterback.

“I think I did what I was able to do, and I definitely grew from a lot of things, and I got experience now,” Sanders said at his end-of-season press conference.

“So, I’m always the same, confidence-wise, I’m there. But like, that’s not in my hands. Like, that’s not my decision. I can’t speak on what other people feel.”

Whilst Sanders – who admitted his relationship with Stefanski was tough – finished with 1,400 passing yards and eight total touchdowns, he also completed just 56.6 percent of his pass attempts, and fired 10 interceptions.

In the 20-18 win in the season finale against Burrow and the Cincinnati Bengals, Sanders recorded a 12.0 QBR, which brought his final QBR average to 18.8 on the season.

That is the worst single-season QBR average in Browns history, among those to have started more than six games.

Sanders still managed to pull out three wins, though, against Geno Smith, Aaron Rodgers and Burrow, who have 14 Pro Bowl nods combined.

Whilst there is certainly room for improvement, with a full off-season under his belt, and if given the starting nod again, Kiper may yet be proved right.

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