Who Should I Start? Marcus Mariota or Shedeur Sanders

Wednesday, March 12, 2:18 PM

Veteran free-agent quarterback Marcus Mariota is signing a one-year deal to return to the Washington Commanders, according to ESPN's Adam Schefter. The former No. 2 overall pick in the 2015 NFL Draft by the Tennessee Titans spent last season with Washington and primarily backed up Jayden Daniels. Mariota threw for 364 yards and four touchdowns in three games a season ago. While Mariota clearly has no path to the starting job, he will be on the fantasy football radar in deep Superflex or two-QB leagues as a deep bench stash. Should Daniels have to miss any time next season, Mariota would have at least low-end QB2 upside playing with wideouts Terry McLaurin and Deebo Samuel Sr. along with tight end Zach Ertz in Kliff Kingsbury's offense.

Thursday, June 12, 12:52 PM

The Athletic's Zac Jackson writes that Cleveland Browns rookie fifth-round quarterback Shedeur Sanders has positioned himself to make the roster this fall and eventually make the team's decision-makers think about where he might belong on the depth chart. Sanders has been good enough in spring practices to make Browns coaches think he's worthy of more chances in training camp this summer. That doesn't mean the 23-year-old is firmly in the mix to win the starting job for the regular season -- veteran Joe Flacco is still considered the favorite -- but he's shown accuracy and decisiveness this spring. Sanders still has a lot of developing to do, but so far, he has been impressive as he looks to prove to Cleveland that he belongs in the picture long term after his well-documented draft-day slide in late April. For fantasy purposes, he's merely a dynasty/keeper stash and hold in 2025.