Fresh off a victory in his first start, Cleveland Browns rookie quarterback Shedeur Sanders will remain QB1 in Week 13.
Browns coach Kevin Stefanski announced Monday that Sanders would start at home against the San Francisco 49ers.
"Shedeur will start this week," the coach said. "Obviously, the No. 1 job of a quarterback is to win. So excited to get that first win under his belt. Next thing is improvement, that's what young players do. Certainly, young quarterbacks do. You get one game better, and that's just from working at it. That will be our focus."
Stefanski made the decision even as fellow rookie Dillon Gabriel cleared concussion protocol. Prior to Monday, the Browns coach had suggested Gabriel would remain the starter when cleared.
The Browns changed gears following Sunday's performance by Sanders in a 24-10 win over the Las Vegas Raiders.
The fifth-round rookie played well in his first start, not getting rattled and making a few field-stretching throws that were lacking with Gabriel in the lineup. Sanders completed 11 of 20 passes for 209 yards -- 10.5 yards per attempt -- with a touchdown and an interception.
It wasn't all pretty from the rookie, who tossed a bad second-quarter interception, but he responded well. Most notably, Sanders avoided the tendency to drift in the pocket and take bad sacks, getting taken down just once in the win. There are things to clean up from a processing and accuracy standpoint, but the rookie brought some juice that had been missing from the Browns' offense.
Sanders' best throw of the game came in the first quarter, when he escaped the pass rush, rolled right, and uncorked a bomb to fellow rookie Isaiah Bond for a 52-yard completion. The 42-air-yard pass was the longest completion by the Browns since 2023, per Next Gen Stats. Sanders' first touchdown pass came on a swing toss to running back Dylan Sampson, who jetted his way for a 66-yard score to give the Browns an insurmountable fourth-quarter lead.
Follow the performance, it makes sense for Stefanski to ride Sanders, allowing him to grow on the field. He'll face a better defense in San Francisco than the one he bested in Vegas. Sitting at 3-8, the Browns need as much evaluation as they can get of the young signal-caller before the offseason hits.
