This story has been updated with new information.
BEREA — The Browns are going with the rookie to back up their rookie starting quarterback when they travel Oct. 12 to Pittsburgh to face the Steelers.
Shedeur Sanders will be the backup quarterback behind starter Dillon Gabriel for the Week 6 AFC North game. The fifth-round pick in April’s draft has been the No. 3 quarterback for the first five games.
“Yeah, like I told you guys on Wednesday, I’m always thinking about our players and what’s best for our players,” Browns coach Kevin Stefanski said Oct. 10. “And I want to make sure when it comes to young football players, particularly at the quarterback position, that you are intentional about your decision making, and that’s really all it is. So excited for all of our guys.”
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Sanders didn’t talk to the media after the decision was announced. He did speak the previous day, when he talked about “getting more excited” when he could “see a light at the end of the tunnel.”
The son of Pro Football Hall of Famer and University of Colorado coach Deion Sanders did talk about continuing to grow through the process. He spoke of it as a journey beyond just on the field.
“I think every day as an individual, you probably learn something about yourself, you know, that you didn’t know the day before,” Sanders said Oct. 9. “So waking up and existing every day, I would say you learn more. So to answer that question, yeah, I feel like now I’m ready. Even not saying I wasn’t ready before, but now I’m ready for whenever my opportunity is.”
The Browns will only have two quarterbacks available for the game. Bailey Zappe could not be called up from the practice squad and be the No. 3 emergency quarterback per NFL rules.
The backup job became a question on Oct. 7, when the Browns dealt Joe Flacco to the Cincinnati Bengals. Flacco, who started the first four games of the season, was the backup when Gabriel made his starting debut in Week 5 against the Minnesota Vikings.
Stefanski opened the week by sidestepping any questions about the No. 2 job. Two days later, he was asked what had changed.
“I think the big thing there is all of us play our role throughout the weekend on Sunday, and obviously that backup quarterback role is a little bit different,” Stefanski said. “We’re doing everything we can to support the starter, and then you have to be ready in a moment’s notice. That’s just the life of backup players at every position.
“And we’ve said that here over the years all the time that you have to stay ready so you don’t have to get ready. But again, that’s our job as coaches, as players to be ready when called upon.”
There was some question if moving on from Flacco might open the door for Sanders to finally get his chance to be the backup, making him a play away, or if the experience of Zappe would win out on the decision. Unlike what they did when they simply reversed the roles for Gabriel and Flacco the previous week, the Browns elected to go with the quarterback without game experience to come into the game in a pinch.
Sanders drew headlines after the decision to start Gabriel was announced and Flacco was named the backup when he pantomimed his answers to questions from media in the locker room. The pantomime was in response to criticism from former NFL coach and current ESPN analyst Rex Ryan, about which he was asked Oct. 9.
“You just trying to start something, you feel me?” Sanders said. “We not on no negativity from now on, man, we not doing that. I’m just here to be positive and I don’t speak on anything negative. So that’s the new way. That’s what we going forward with. Anything negative, we not talking about it, we not speaking on it.”
Zappe, 26, has played in 15 career games since the New England Patriots made him a fourth-round pick in 2022 out of Western Kentucky. He’s started nine games, eight for the Patriots as well as the Browns’ 2024 season finale at the Baltimore Ravens.
Chris Easterling can be reached at ceasterling@thebeaconjournal.com. Read more about the Browns at www.beaconjournal.com/sports/browns. Follow him on X at @ceasterlingABJ
This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Shedeur Sanders will be Browns backup QB against Pittsburgh Steelers
Reporting by Chris Easterling, Akron Beacon Journal / Akron Beacon Journal
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