In a league defined by razor-thin margins and brutal accountability, the Cleveland Browns have once again found themselves in the eye of a hurricane. This time, the storm is not just about wins and losses; it’s about organizational competence, public trust, and a quarterback controversy so mismanaged it threatens to burn the entire house down. Leading the charge is former NFL quarterback Shaun King, who, in a blistering interview, labeled the Browns “dysfunctional” and “the laughing stock of the National Football League”.

His criticism, delivered with the cool confidence of a man smoking a “victory cigar” to celebrate being “100% correct”, was aimed squarely at the team’s front office: General Manager Andrew Berry and Head Coach Kevin Stefanski. The heart of the issue? What King describes as a catastrophic failure in evaluating and handling the most important position in sports.

The central conflict revolves around two young quarterbacks: third-round rookie Dylan Gabriel, and the man King believes is being unjustly benched, Shedeur Sanders.

The “Egregious” Mistake

According to King, the original sin that set this disaster in motion was the “most egregious draft pick in the entire 2025 draft”: selecting Dylan Gabriel. King, who went back to re-watch the film to see if he “missed something”, came away with the same conclusion: “It’s just a terrible evaluation by Andrew Barry and Kevin Stefanski”.

King didn’t mince words when breaking down Gabriel’s deficiencies, painting a picture of a player who simply does not have what it takes. “He did not have the traits of an elite starting quarterback in the National Football League,” King stated. “Dylan isn’t that fast, he’s not that agile, he’s not big, he doesn’t have a big-time arm, he’s not overly accurate on a consistent basis”.

The damning assessment is that after only five starts, the league has already figured Gabriel out. “I don’t think he regressed,” King explained. “I think teams know he’s very unwilling to throw the football down the field”. As a result, defenses are tightening up, taking away underneath routes, and daring Gabriel to make a play he simply cannot. “They’re going to continue to put you in spots where you got to prove to them that you can do it”.

To make matters worse, King pointed out the players the Browns could have had, such as Jackson Dart or Tyler Shook, who are already showing more potential. He even expressed sympathy for Gabriel, saying, “I kind of feel bad for him. He was put in a terrible spot”.

The Sanders Solution: “I Was Wrong”

For King, the solution is as obvious as the problem. It’s not about finding a new quarterback in the draft or free agency; it’s about playing the more talented one already on the roster.

“It’s time,” King declared, arguing that Shedeur Sanders should be starting this week. His most explosive quote of the interview laid the debate bare: “Dylan Gabriel’s never been better than Shador Sanders. Ever. Not at any level”.

So why is the supposedly inferior quarterback playing? King diagnoses it as a terminal case of executive ego. The only reason Gabriel remains the starter, King argues, is because Berry and Stefanski used a high pick on him and cannot bring themselves to “admit that they made a huge mistake”. By continuing to play Gabriel, “it just compounds the error even more”.

“You know, sometimes in life, man, you got to be willing to be like, ‘I was wrong,’” King pleaded. “Let me learn from that and let me move forward and try and do the right thing. And I think that’s where Andrew Barry and Kevin Stefanski are really struggling”. By refusing to pivot, the front office isn’t just hurting the team; they’re being “super unfair to Shadur Sanders”, who will now be thrown into a dysfunctional situation with immense pressure to be an instant savior.

A “Dysfunctional” Pattern of Failure

This quarterback controversy isn’t an isolated incident. King argues it’s the crescendo of “the worst 6-month stretch… I think we’ve ever seen” from an organization. He meticulously listed the baffling QB decisions: trading for Kenny Pickett, bringing in and starting veteran Joe Flacco, and then—after only four weeks—trading Flacco within the division.

The hypocrisy is stunning. The veteran Flacco was given a four-week leash, yet the front office preaches patience for their hand-picked, struggling rookie.

All of this, King notes, is happening under the shadow of the man who isn’t playing: Deshaun Watson, and his $250 million guaranteed contract. The entire saga, King joked, is so absurd that “they might be able to do a 30 for 30 on just the Browns’ handling of the quarterback position”.

The organizational rot, King claims, has infected the locker room. In his most alarming claim, King suggested the season is effectively over because the players themselves have given up on the leadership. “A lot of the guys on the Browns now… they just trying to get their numbers and make sure that they resume look good”. He paints a picture of a defeated team: “Guys are already checking out mentally… booking flights for after the last game”.

His advice for Deshaun Watson was just as shocking. “If I was Deshawn, there’s no way I would ever tell the doctor I felt good enough to come back and play this season”. Why? “Why… put myself back into that mix when I can potentially sit out and get a whole new regime and get a fresh start?”.

“King for GM”

When you critique this fiercely, you must have a solution. Jokingly dubbed “King for GM 2025”, Shaun laid out his own plan to fix the mess.

His first act as GM would be to address the offense, which he says is in “shambles”. He would build around young talents like Quinn Judkins, Jerry Judy, and Harold Fannon, aggressively pursue free agents to fix the offensive line, and, in a clear message, let tight end David Njoku walk in free agency.

He’d ask defensive stars like Myles Garrett and Denzel Ward for patience, telling them, “I got to focus on the other side of the ball”.

And at quarterback? He’d start Shedeur Sanders immediately to “gain some experience”. Then, in the offseason, he’d “create real competition”, evaluating all options, including potentially Kyler Murray or even Mac Jones.

It’s a clear-eyed plan, a stark contrast to the muddled, pride-driven decision-making King accuses the current regime of. The interview was a complete and total dismantling of the Browns’ leadership. The question now is whether owner Jimmy Haslam was listening. King’s verdict is in: the problem isn’t the players, it’s the “terrible evaluation” from the very top.