After turning heads in the Browns' QB competition, Shedeur Sanders has emerged as a legitimate contender for the starting job. Yet, while the spotlight remains on his battle with Deshaun Watson, analysts believe Cleveland already has a fallback plan in place.

“So if he pans (Sanders) out and becomes great, awesome. And we got Jared Verse, we got another first-rounder with our first-rounder. But if not, we're going to combine our first-rounders, and all of a sudden, you know, we're going to be in the Arch Manning sweepstakes,” said NFL legend Mark Schlereth in his ‘The Stinkin Truth’ podcast.

The conversation between him and Mike Evans centered on Jared Verse, who was traded for Myles Garrett this month. Schlereth believes Verse is crucial for the Browns, given their quarterback uncertainty and his ability to impact games on both defense and against the run.

But what if Sanders fails to make an impact? Well, the Browns may already have a solution for that. As a part of the Myles Garrett trade, the Browns clinched Jared Verse, a 2027 first-round pick, a 2028 second-round pick, and a conditional 2029 third-round pick, which means they have enough draft capital for future big trades.

The 3x Super Bowl champion believes that if Sanders failed to make an impact, Deshaun Watson fails as a QB, and the Browns go down under, then they will have enough first-round picks in their bag to package and trade for a better quarterback like Arch Manning.

That said, the Browns have now been urged by another analyst to replace Sanders with a first-round pick.

Analyst Questions Shedeur Sanders' Ability, Sees Ready Replacement

The debate surrounding Shedeur Sanders and Deshaun Watson has led some analysts to believe the Cleveland Browns should look beyond their current quarterback room for a better long-term option. According to Anthony Lima of 92.3 The Fan, the Browns should make a push for Brandon Sorsby.

“Much better prospect than anything Browns have right now,” Lima replied to a post on X discussing Sorsby. “Imagine redshirting first half of season and developing under QB whisperer [Todd] Monken and THEN having a chance to draft Jeremiah Smith."

While a Sorsby trade looks risky given his recent issues and loss of NCAA eligibility, Cleveland could still target Jeremiah Smith, who is widely viewed as a generational talent.

That said, the team might also look to bring in Arch Manning of Texas, a likely top-10 pick in 2027 and a quarterback Browns owner Jimmy Haslam would love to have under the team's banner.

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Written by

Suryakant Das

Edited by

Zaid Quraishi