by: Barkley Truax 1 hour ago BarkleyTruax
Shedeur Sanders is inactive against the New England Patriots today, the Cleveland Browns announced. The rookie quarterback in dealing with a back injury.
Dillin Gabriel will remain the starting quarterback during Week 8. However, Bailey Zappe has been elevated from the practice squad to add depth to the Browns’ QB room this week.
In addition, CB Jarrick Bernard-Converse , DT Adin Huntington , S Damontae Kazee , OT Cornelius Lucas , RB Raheim Sanders and OG Zak Zinter were all placed on the team’s inactives list ahead of the mid-season matchup.
Zappe is in his fourth season in the NFL out of Western Kentucky. He was drafted in the fourth round by the New England Patriots during the 2022 NFL Draft. He has 15 career games under his belt, including nine starts. One of those came last season with the Browns.
For Sanders, he has been the second-team quarterback for the Browns since Cleveland traded Joe Flacco earlier this month. Flacco is now the starter for the Cincinnati Bengals and Gabriel has been QB1 for Cleveland ever since.
This is the first game in his NFL career that Sanders is inactive, though he hasn’t recorded any stats as the second and third string quarterback of the Browns’ offense. This came after a successful career in college that saw him throw for over 14,000 yards and 130 touchdowns over four seasons before turning pro.