The Cleveland Browns are famous for ruining young quarterbacks by sending them into battle before they are ready and having them learn bad habits--mainly trying to apply college offense methods to the Pro game--then giving up on them.
This is what is wrong with the Shedeur Sanders debate. It's a false issue whether Shedeur is better than Dillon. Of course Shedeur is better than Dillon. The question is whether putting Shedeur on the field now, behind an aging offensive line and with Jerry Jeudy as the only credible wide receiver, helps his career in any way.
I laugh at those who claim the Browns "need to learn what they have in Shedeur in the second half of the season." What nonsense. How much did the New York Jets learn about Sam Darnold in three years? How much did the Browns learn about Baker Mayfield in four years? How much did the Giants learn about Daniel Jones in six years? Answer: Absolutely nothing. They did, however, learn to blame their problems on the quarterback.
I thought Dillon was a stupid draft pick by Andrew Berry and I said so at the time. That's not the issue. Just because Dillon is going to struggle, doesn't mean the best thing is to put Shedeur into a bad situation.
The quarterbacks are not going to put up numbers until the Browns draft a stud left tackle and replace the old men on the offensive line. They also need professional wide receivers.
Shedeur has not learned to play within structure. One piece of evidence is that in the preseason, according to Pro Football Focus and Yahoo, Sanders' Time To Throw (TTT) was 3.96 seconds, the longest of any player ever recorded in preseason.
https://sports.yahoo.com/article/shedeur-sanders-showed-true-character-125802268.html
That's not good, though it is correctable with time. He had issues hold ing the ball too long in college, and in his last preseason game he got sacked five times, after which fourth string QB Tyler Huntley came in and marched the team down the field and scored.
So no, I don't think Shedeur will play well on this team in 2025. He needs to grow in 2025, and the Browns need to upgrade their roster for 2026.
I don't see the point of watching him suffer through some bad losses this season. He might win a game or two, but it is much more likely that he is going to be as bad or worse than Dillon this year. Shedeur will generate lots of sacks and interceptions and not that many passing yards if he starts this year. 2026 is the more realistic goal to convert him into a Pro style passer.
Drafting a few offensive linemen and wide receivers might help, too.
Note, however, that Haslam and Andrew Berry are carrying massive financial commitments for 2026 and will be unable to improve the roster by adding glamor free agents. They will still owe $130 million to Deshaun Watson, and they are carrying several huge guaranteed veterans' contracts that will prevent them from signing new veteran free agents. There will likely be dead money charges over $100 million dollars in 2026. It remains to be seen whether they will have the resources to provide personnel to adequately protect a young quarterback in 2026.
The vicious cycle may never end for Jimmy Haslam III, who loves quarterbacks so much that he may destroy his team finding the next messianic savior at the position.
A good team can win with a backup quarterback, and in fact Super Bowls have been won about 10 times with backup quarterbacks over the years. So if your team can only win 4 or 5 games a year, it's probably not just the quarterback that needs fixing. There are probably half a dozen below average players on that unit.
The Browns are just not a good offensive team. Seeking to upgrade the quarterback position is a nice idea, but there are many more upgrades that are needed besides the quarterback. The Browns should try to field an NFL-caliber offense in 2026 and if they have that, they could consider starting Shedeur and try to score some points.
