3 NFL Teams That Could Trade For Shedeur Sanders
Shedeur Sanders finished the 2025 regular season as the starting quarterback for the Cleveland Browns. But it doesn't appear that he'll start the 2026 season under center for Cleveland.
Mary Kay Cabot, a longtime NFL insider for cleveland.com, reported on Wednesday that Deshaun Watson has taken the lead in the starting quarterback battle. The Browns could reportedly name the former Pro Bowl quarterback their starter any day, now.
"With my breaking news here that Deshaun Watson has taken the lead over Shedeur Sanders in the #Browns QB competition and has the inside track to win it, I think they should declare him QB1 asap and let the 1st team offense start to cook. There's no time to waste," she reported on Wednesday.
Watson, who was traded from Houston to Cleveland in 2022, has only played a total of 19 games since the trade. He was suspended following the NFL's investigation into accusations from massage therapists and then he suffered an Achilles injury.
But it appears that he's healthy for 2026.
If Watson is the guy moving forward for Cleveland, the Browns could look to move on from Sanders, who made the Pro Bowl last season.
3 NFL teams that could trade for Sanders
The Jets have been searching for a longterm answer at the quarterback for what feels like forever. The Jets are going with Geno Smith behind center this season. However, New York is looking for quarterback depth.
New York recently welcomed Russell Wilson for a visit. The Jets could go in a different direction, though, pairing Smith with a young quarterback like Sanders.
The New York City market would certainly have fun with Sanders, too.
Dolphins
The Dolphins made a big move for Packers quarterback Malik Willis this offseason, signing the young quarterback to a 3-year, $67.5 million contract.
But Willis is far from a sure thing.
The Dolphins could need depth behind him, after moving on from Tua Tagovailoa and Quinn Ewers looking like far from a proven thing.
Chiefs
The Chiefs selected LSU QB Garrett Nussmeier with the No. 249 overall pick in the 2026 NFL Draft.
Patrick Mahomes is coming off a torn ACL injury. He's expected to be healthy in time for the 2026 season. However, if not, the Chiefs could turn to Justin Fields, who signed with Kansas City in the offseason.
Sanders and Fields are varying degrees of unproven starters with experience. Fields has been better, of course, but maybe not by much. Sanders could provide Fields with some competition for the backup spot - and perhaps the starting job early on if Mahomes is still injured.
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Where do you see Sanders landing if he's traded?
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This story was originally published April 29, 2026 at 12:47 PM.