Shedeur Sanders says he can see ‘light at the end of the tunnel’ in Browns QB room after Joe Flacco trade

The Browns trading Joe Flacco to the Bengals in a rare intra-division trade came as a surprise around the NFL. While not a trade many envisioned, it made sense for both sides with Cincinnati addressing their quarterback issues after Joe Burrow‘s injury and the Browns removing further clutter from their once-crowded quarterback room. 

Now, the Browns are left with an all-rookie QB depth chart, with Dillon Gabriel as the starter and Shedeur Sanders as the apparent backup — barring a last-minute addition of a veteran to the roster. Cleveland’s QB situation has been under the microscope since they drafted both Gabriel and Sanders, particularly given Sanders’ massive following, and he explained on Thursday that he’s grateful for his time learning from Flacco but admits there’s some added excitement knowing there’s “light at the end of the tunnel” now that he’s no longer buried quite as deep on the depth chart. 

“It was definitely surprising,” Sanders said of the trade. “[Flacco] was definitely a great teammate. And I’m just thankful to spend some time with him.”

“You tend to get a little bit more excited when you see a light at the end of the tunnel, for sure,” Sanders said. “So, my job at first was to prepare the defense — and I think I did a pretty good job [laughs]. … Whatever my role is here, I’m thankful and I’m happy just to do that.” 

It was a decidedly different tone to Sanders’ availability than some of his past conversations with the media — including one in which he only mouthed words and didn’t actually speak. We’ll see if the Browns allow for this more optimistic version of Sanders to remain as the backup to Gabriel, or opt for the addition of a veteran to push him down on the depth chart again and restart the clock on frustration with Sanders’ role.