Even after trading away veteran starting quarterback Joe Flacco, the Cleveland Browns‘ QB room remains largely unsettled.

The Browns defeated the Miami Dolphins 31-6 on Sunday as rookie Dillon Gabriel protected the ball and managed the game, completing 13 of 18 passes for 116 yards. However, amid relatively underwhelming performances, his job is far from safe.

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On Cleveland’s “92.3 The Fan” sports radio show, local Browns reporter Mary Kay Cabot noted how rookie QB Shedeur Sanders is still very much part of the conversation.

“I think his (Sanders’) development has gone really, really well behind the scenes,” Cabot said. “That is what I’m hearing from the people that I’ve talked to. He’s doing a really, really nice job. He’s making progress in every way, including in all of those ways that they really needed him to… He’s really coming along.”

“The thing about Shedeur is he has elite accuracy, and that’s the place where I think he has Dillon beat,” Cabot added. “In a seven-on-seven drill, if you put those two up next to each other and you just started doing a red zone seven-on-seven, I think Shedeur would win that drill most of the time.”

“But that doesn’t mean that he would be the better choice at quarterback right at this moment. It means that he has to put the whole package together,” Cabot highlighted, while also noting that if Gabriel can add more explosiveness to his passing game, then he’ll be “right on track.”

Gabriel, the Browns’ third-round pick (No. 94 overall), was named the starter ahead of Week 5 after the team traded Flacco and has kept the job to this point.

Now through three full games as the starting QB, Gabriel has completed 64 of 107 passes (59.8%) for 546 passing yards, three passing touchdowns and zero interceptions.

While Gabriel hasn’t allowed too many mistakes, and as Cabot put it, is “managing the game well,” he also hasn’t thrown for more than 221 yards in a game, had two games with zero touchdowns, and two starts that resulted in losses.

Sanders, meanwhile, was a fifth-round pick (No. 144) in the 2025 NFL draft and arrived with well-documented college production — a 2024 senior season at Colorado that saw him complete 74.0% of his passes and win Big 12 Offensive Player of the Year and the Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award.

After the Flacco trade, Sanders moved up the pecking order to be the clear backup, but he has not yet logged any regular-season snaps.

Shedeur Sanders #12 of the Cleveland Browns looks on during warm ups prior to a game against the Miami Dolphins at Huntington Bank Field in Cleveland, Ohio.

Ultimately, Gabriel’s mistake-free, game-managing approach keeps him on the field for now, but Sanders’ accuracy and college resume make him a realistic near-term alternative if Cleveland’s offense fails to add the necessary explosiveness.

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Cabot’s comments don’t necessarily forecast any immediate switch, but they definitely signal the potential that the Browns could turn to Sanders if the offense doesn’t improve or Gabriel begins to stumble.

Coming into Week 8 of the NFL season, Cleveland is averaging a mere 178.3 passing yards per game (third-worst in the NFL) and 16.1 points per game (third-worst) and boasts a 2-5 record.