Shedeur Sanders on alert with three NFL Draft QBs setting sights on Cleveland Browns job

The Cleveland Browns quarterback carousel will keep on turning right up until the start of the 2026 season.

The Browns currently have three-quarterbacks on the roster who will battle it out for the starting role in 2026.

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Shedeur Sanders is the unofficial favorite to start under center, with Deshaun Watson, whose contract has just been restructured, and Dillon Gabriel competing for the QB.2 role.

With the QB room in Cleveland full, latest reports suggest that they are looking to add a fourth via the draft – but rather than someone to keep, it looks like a developmental project in top of their agenda.

When talking on Cleveland’s potential 2026 NFL Draft plans, Tony Grossi of ESPN Cleveland Radio said: “There’s a greater chance the Browns draft Drew Allar than Ty Simpson.

“It will be interesting to see what else the Browns decide to do with the rest of the quarterbacks on the roster.”

Simpson was the starter for Alabama and is seen as QB2 behind Fernando Mendoza in April, and names such as Allar and Carson Beck come into the mix.

Penn State’s Allar has close ties to the Browns, with his great grandfather owning season tickets at old Municipal Stadium.

When speaking at the NFL Combine, he told reporters what his ideal destination would be.

“Any opportunity that I would have to play in the NFL would be a dream come true,” Allar said, via Sports Illustrated.

“I mean that one would be really cool and surreal just because I grew up going to games and grew up a Browns fan.”

He’s not the only prospect who wants to begin their career in Cleveland however.

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Beck led Miami to the College Football Playoffs in 2025 where they were beaten by Indiana and Mendoza in the championship game.

Having first played under Monken at Georgia, Beck threw for 7,736 yards with 56 touchdowns and 18 interceptions in 34 games.

Meanwhile Alabama’s Ty Simpson’s dad knows Monken, and said Simpson would be ‘very excited’ if the pair met up in Cleveland.

Gabriel could be odd man out if Browns draft a QB in 2026

Any NFL team is unlikely to carry four quarterbacks heading into the season, former Browns head coach Kevin Stefanski did it just last year, and it didn’t turn out to be a good decision.

If new head coach Todd Monken wants to use the same formula Stefanski did, then drafting another quarterback won’t present as an issue. Plenty of competition is good.

But if he drafts one and doesn’t want to go into the season with four, the odd man out in this case will be Gabriel.

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Gabriel was selected almost 50 picks ahead of Sanders, and was given the chance by Kevin Stefanski after Joe Flacco struggled early.

The 25-year-old made six consecutive starts before suffering a concussion in Week 11 against the Baltimore Ravens, throwing for 937 yards with seven touchdowns and two interceptions.

But, Sanders took the reins and never looked back.

With the return of Watson from injury, it makes the outlook slightly worse for Gabriel, and increases the likelihood he could be moved this offseason.

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