The 2025 season is quickly approaching, and I’m ready to erase memories of the team’s dismal 3-14 season. One of the talking points when the regular season rolls around will be how veteran QB Joe Flacco — assuming he is named the starter — can rekindle some of that magic Cleveland had the last time they were good, which was the 2023 season.

But Flacco won’t play in the first preseason game against the Carolina Panthers. Neither will QB Kenny Pickett or QB Dillon Gabriel. Instead, it’ll be the team’s fourth — and perhaps most talked about — quarterback in rookie Shedeur Sanders. That leads us into the first of our 10 things I’m looking for in the first preseason game.

1. How Up to Speed is Shedeur Sanders? This is a bit of a crazy moment, given how Sanders has basically not had any first-

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