Shedeur Sanders Held Out of Browns' Team Drills During Camp Practice With Arm Soreness

The Cleveland Browns announced that Shedeur Sanders was being held out of team drills at Saturday's practice due to arm soreness, per Mary Kay Cabot of Cleveland.com.

Kenny Pickett (hamstring) was also held out of those drills, with the entirety going to Joe Flacco and Dillon Gabriel.

To this point in Cleveland's bizarre four-man quarterback competition, it has appeared that Gabriel is far ahead of Sanders on the rookie pecking order:

That makes sense, to a degree. Gabriel was drafted in the third round, while Sanders remained on the board until the fifth. While you could write a dissertation speculating on why Sanders dropped that far after some projections had him as a first-rounder, the reality remains that all 32 teams passed on him multiple times before he was selected No. 144 overall.

One of the possible conclusions is that a number of teams simply didn't believe Sanders would be that good at the NFL level. Teams will overlook at lot while accumulating talent, including the type of media storm that Sanders brings to the table. But the teams in need of starting quarterbacks at this year's draft seemed to view Sanders as more of a backup, and part of his slide was likely wanting to avoid that level of media storm for a second-string player.

Put another way: You can be Aaron Rodgers in the headlines if you've been Aaron Rodgers on the field. You cannot be Aaron Rodgers in the headlines if you've been Cooper Rush on the field (or if NFL teams believe that's what you'll be).

Ultimately, Sanders may prove too good to sit. That remains to be seen. He certainly appeared to be the better college player. Sanders threw for 4,134 yards, 37 touchdowns and 10 interceptions last season, completing 74 percent of his passes, and finished his college career with three seasons of 30 or more touchdown passes

Gabriel, meanwhile, threw for 3,857 yards, 30 touchdowns and six interceptions last year, completing 72.9 percent of his passes while compiling his second straight year with exactly 30 touchdown throws. He faced tougher competition in the Big Ten, but it was also his sixth college season.

At some point, the Browns are going to have to make some important decisions at quarterback. They aren't going to roster four players at the position.

Would they consider trading either Gabriel or Sanders? That's one option. Another is that either Flacco or Pickett is going to get cut if they keep the two rookies, with Pickett trending toward being the odd man out. And will any of this matter if the Browns are in a position to draft Arch Manning a year from now?

From the moment the Browns made the franchise-altering decision to trade for Deshaun Watson and signed him to what became the worst contract in NFL history, the quarterback position has been a mess in Cleveland. This summer doesn't feel like much of a departure from that trend.