Cleveland Browns QB Shedeur Sanders suffers injury vs. Buffalo Bills

Cleveland Browns quarterback Shedeur Sanders is going to the locker room after suffering a pinky injury in Week 16 against the Buffalo Bills.

In the second quarter, Sanders was tackled and brought out of the game because his pinky was covered in blood. It's hard to tell whether or not this injury will knock Sanders out of the game. In the meantime, fellow rookie third-round pick Dillon Gabriel will take over at quarterback.

Shedeur Sanders heads to the sideline with his helmet off, apparent hand and nose injury. #Browns #NFL #InjuryUpdate #Football pic.twitter.com/yhl0ctMAKV
— Aggregate Sports (@AggregateSports) December 21, 2025

Sanders has pinky injury vs. Bills

So far in the game, Sanders has completed 10 of 13 passes for 109 yards, a touchdown, and an interception. Sanders also has three carries for 35 yards on the ground. He threw a touchdown to tight end Harold Fannin Jr. on the opening drive to take a 7-0 lead.

Sanders has been super consistent since taking the starting job for the Browns, which is something head coach Kevin Stefanski appreciates.

“Yeah, same guy every day, which is what you appreciate about quarterbacks. You’re going to have days that you want back, and the next day you’re back at it, you’re right back on the proverbial horse. And that’s who he’s been, so I’m not surprised," Stefanski said of Sanders.

Sanders is hoping to return to the game and build stronger bonds with his teammates, which he believes is crucial for the team to pull out victories.

"it’s not always gonna be a work in progress. It’s relationships. All relationships ain’t always the best, you know, but you still stick together through everything. So just because one week, you know, we’re well-connected, and then next week, we’re a bit off, that don’t mean that we didn’t have progress," Sanders said.

"You know, it’s a lot of things in that game that there’s positive things that we could take from that, you know, when it comes to trust, when it comes to different things, learning abilities and just different things that different tasks take forward, like when the game happens. So, every moment, you know, every rep, everything is extremely important on building our connections.”

The Bills responded with a 44-yard touchdown from James Cook to tie the game 7-7. Bills backup running back Ty Johnson also got in on the action with a two-yard touchdown to take a 13-7 lead.

Michael Badgley missed the extra points, which kept the Bills' lead at 13-7. The Browns responded with a field goal to cut their deficit in half to make the score 13-10, but Cook scored another touchdown to make it 20-10.