Largely out of nowhere, Cleveland Browns second-year quarterback Shedeur Sanders became the subject of curious trade rumors not long after it was reported in June that he had closed the gap in the competition for the team’s starting job with veteran Deshaun Watson.
Multiple Browns reporters have since poured cold water over the idea that Sanders will be traded this summer. During a Wednesday live stream for Bleacher Report, NFL insider James Palmer addressed the Sanders trade chatter.
Browns “don’t have any intention” of making this Shedeur Sanders decision
“My understanding is they don’t have any intention of trading Shedeur Sanders,” Palmer said about the Browns, per J.R. DeGroote of Heavy.
Interestingly, Palmer offered his update shortly after it was suggested that Watson needed “to get some proper rest” during the NFL’s ongoing summer break because he may have been dealing with a “bit of fatigue in his surgically repaired shoulder.” Watson’s 2023 season ended prematurely because of a shoulder injury, and he hasn’t taken an in-game snap since he suffered a torn Achilles tendon in October 2024.
Could the Browns trade Shedeur Sanders after the preseason ends?
Multiple reports shared over the past several months have claimed that Watson has been the favorite to win the starting job since late April. Some have speculated that the Browns could make Sanders available to other teams if Watson ultimately emerges as the team’s Week 1 QB1, but Palmer seems to think such a scenario won’t play out.
“I think both these quarterbacks are most likely going to be on the Browns roster come the start of the season, and they both could be on the roster for the duration of the season,” Palmer continued. “[Sanders] is a player that they’re seeing improve, that they have under control for the next several years, and don’t have a heavy financial commitment into. He has not caused any problems behind the scenes in the building that would force them to part ways with him by any stretch…So right now, I don’t see any way that the Browns are going to trade Shedeur Sanders.”
For now, both Sanders and Watson are on track to play when the Browns open the preseason with a game at the Chicago Bears
on Aug. 15. Of course, it’s far too early to guess which quarterback will start that contest and how many snaps the signal-callers will get that Saturday afternoon.