Trade Shedeur Sanders or Dillon Gabriel? Here’s what Browns must do with messy QB situation

The Cleveland Browns have a deep quarterback room headed into the 2026 season. Cleveland has four quarterbacks on the roster, with backup Dillon Gabriel on injured reserve because of a back injury. The Browns may have designs on dealing one of those quarterbacks in a trade during the regular season.

One longtime NFL scout told Eric D. Williams of FOX Sports that Gabriel’s preseason outing could have been an audition for other teams. Remember, the Browns have a history of trading quarterbacks in the middle of the season. They did so with both Joe Flacco and Kenny Pickett during the 2025 season alone.

Gabriel put on a masterful showing against the Patriots, going 12-of-15 for 186 yards and three touchdowns. He reminded Browns fans, and the rest of the NFL, that he is still hanging around below Deshaun Watson and Shedeur Sanders on the depth chart.

Gabriel’s big performance created questions about which quarterback should be the odd man out in Cleveland.

“It will be interesting how it unfolds,” the NFL talent evaluator told Williams. “From the outside, you’d want to go with experience and leadership at QB over everything else at this point. But I think Gabriel has a chance to be a good backup and liked him coming out. All eyes are on Sanders, but he’s gotta show he can be a solid, strong leader and settle down as well to grind, learn and develop. He’s going to find out that as a player, you can only get so many opportunities to do that, and you better take advantage of every single one of them.”

The scout added that Cleveland may also choose to keep Gabriel and instead put Sanders on the block.

If the Browns do deal one of their quarterbacks, which one should it be?

Why the Browns should keep Shedeur Sanders, trade Dillon Gabriel

To get started, Gabriel and Sanders are the only Browns quarterbacks who make sense to deal in a trade.

Watson will be hard pressed to find work again after his disastrous tenure in Cleveland. But more to the point, his monstrous contract makes it practically impossible to trade him. Meanwhile, it makes little sense to give up on rookie Taylen Green after just one offseason in Cleveland’s program. So that leaves only Gabriel and Sanders as viable trade candidates.

Between the two, Gabriel seems like the better player to shop around on the trade market.

Sanders has always been surrounded by controversy since joining the Browns. The biggest problem is that the attention paid to Sanders outshines his actual performance as an NFL quarterback. He’s not the usual “distraction” that NFL teams prefer to avoid, but he certainly is distracting.

As such, it is fair to wonder how many NFL teams would be willing to bring Sanders into their quarterback room. Sanders does not project as a starter on any other team, so he would have to start as a backup. It is easy to imagine NFL front offices not being enthusiastic about spending resources to add Sanders and his media circus to their team.

As for Gabriel, the second-year quarterback has looked solid during his limited time on the field. He finished the 2025 season with 937 passing yards with seven touchdowns and two interceptions. Gabriel did not look like a franchise quarterback, but he proved he can be a useful backup in the NFL.

More to the point, Gabriel does not come with the same concerns that Sanders does. It is easy to imagine rival GMs looking at Gabriel and seeing untapped potential.

At the end of the day, neither player should demand a huge return in a hypothetical trade. But the Browns look destined to draft a quarterback in 2027 who will be the future of the organization. That means Cleveland’s front office would be wise to get any value they can from Sanders or Dillon while they still can. Even if it is just a late-round pick swap.

Browns fans should expect this situation to heat up closer to the trade deadline on November 10th.