The Cleveland Browns are 3-1 for the first time since 2001 with Deshaun Watson as the team's starting quarterback following Thursday night's 27-24 win over the Pittsburgh Steelers, making the possibility of a trade involving Shedeur Sanders or Dillon Gabriel more realistic. According to ESPN's Jeremy Fowler, the Browns "would probably welcome a deal at the right price" for one of their backup quarterbacks, given Watson's early-season play. "I could see if they get the right offer for whoever it is, I think Taylen Green they'd like to keep as a developmental, so it would probably have to be Shedeur Sanders or Dillon Gabriel," Fowler said Thursday.
"I am not saying they're definitely trading, I am saying they have the flexibility. This is very much a value-based team. The Browns are that more than any other." The NFL's trade deadline is Tuesday, Nov. 10, which follows Week 9 of the regular season.
That gives the Browns more than enough time to gauge interest while knowing where they stand in the postseason picture. Keeping four quarterbacks on the roster — Watson, Sanders, Gabriel and Green — seems counter-productive if one of the guys behind the starter has trade value. Most NFL teams only keep two quarterbacks on their active 53-man roster, and Green was inactive for the fourth straight week on Thursday.
Determining the market for Sanders or Gabriel — who's been on injured reserve with a back situation and is now eligible to return — is somewhat unknown, however, according to Fowler. "If there's another major injury somewhere and a team had a good file on Shedeur, like if they did a lot of homework on him and really liked him in the draft process," Fowler said Thursday. "But that was a hit or miss proposition because he didn't have a good pre-draft process.
There just weren't a lot of teams that were absolutely in love with him. That's why he was there in the fifth round. "Does someone take a shot on him?
I think it would have to be a situation where they would be comfortable with Gabriel as the (No. 2). If that's solidified with him, maybe they would shop Shedeur." The former fifth-round pick battled with Watson throughout camp and the preseason before first-year coach Todd Monken ultimately went with the veteran. Sanders, who's in the second year of his rookie deal, played one snap during the Browns' 21-18 win over the Carolina Panthers last week.
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