Shedeur Sanders is being seriously overlooked by the Cleveland Browns.
Despite a strong preseason showing in Cleveland’s 30-10 win over the Carolina Panthers on his NFL debut, Sanders is still not considered as a legitimate candidate for the vacant Browns’ starting job.
Throwing for 138 yards, rushing for an additional 19 yards and recording two touchdowns through three-and-a-half quarters of action, the Browns’ fifth-round pick was heavily praised for his performance.
Some even went as far to say that the son of NFL Hall of Famer Deion Sanders made the league look ‘foolish’ for allowing him to slide out of the first-round of the 2025 draft, all the way down to the 144th pick.
Ahead of their first preseason game on Friday, the Browns published their first depth chart of the season, in which Sanders was listed as the fourth-string quarterback behind veterans Joe Flacco and an injured Kenny Pickett, as well as fellow rookie and third-round draft pick, Dillon Gabriel.
To make a monumental task of climbing up the depth chart even harder, the Browns announced in August that they had signed free agent quarterback Tyler Huntley as well, making that six players in the Browns’ quarterback room, if the injured $230 million Deshaun Watson is also included.
Sanders hasn’t yet done enough to be the Browns’ QB2
On Sunday, though, NFL insider and Browns reporter for The Athletic Zac Jackson had some strong words about the quarterback battle, specifically as it pertains to Sanders and Gabriel.
According to Jackson, nobody believes that Sanders will be an immediate contributor in Week 1.
“No reasonable person thinks Sanders will be fully ready to lead a team and consistently attack a complicated NFL defense three weeks from now,” Jackson reported on Sunday. “He’s shown enough talent and growth, however, to make anyone believe he should be on the team and has a chance to develop into a starting-quality player.
This statement caught the attention of NFL legends Shannon Sharpe and Chad ‘Ochocinco’ Johnson, who couldn’t quite believe what they were hearing.
“What have you seen from Dillon Gabriel to make you think he can be number two?” Sharpe questioned on an episode of his Nightcap podcast.
“Excuse me, who wrote that?” Ocho interjected, before being told it was Browns insider Jackson.
“Sanders is talented. His throw out of his own end zone to wide receiver Gage Larvadain in the preseason opener and his floater down the sideline to receiver Luke Floriea later are proof.”
Despite these words, Johnson, who played 11 seasons in the NFL between 2001-2010 as a wide receiver for the Cincinnati Bengals and New England Patriots, still can’t fathom why Sanders is being so underrated by those in and around the league.
“So you see Shedeur do what he does in three quarters of football,” Ocho added. “So in a live game, you saw him play the way he played and still question if he can do the same thing when he has the actual starters at his disposal. I’m confused.”
Sharpe also expressed his outrage with what was written, going on to say: “What about Dillon Gabriel? Has he shown you enough to make them believe that three weeks from now that he can lead this team against a complicated defense?
“I digress even further. Has Kenny Pickett ever shown you that he can lead a team against a complicated defense? Because all I keep hearing is what you’re telling me he [Sanders] can’t do… well the job as a coach is to put players in position and find something that they can do.”
“Wait a minute, where’s the ‘can’t’ coming from? We just saw him do it,” Ocho replied. “I know it’s a small sample size…but everything you said he can’t do, he just did. Matter of fact, he just did what we saw him do at Jackson State, Colorado.
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“I played the game for a very long time, I’m a receiver. I know what it’s supposed to look like. I know what it looks like when there is a quarterback who’s playing in a game and he’s confident.
“He’s polished, his pocket presence, his mannerisms, I know what it should look like… If Kenny Pickett was the answer for Cleveland, he would have been the answer in Pittsburgh.”
Many believe that Sanders is being set up to fail by the Browns, with owner Jimmy Haslam having publicly distanced himself from the team even drafting the 23-year-old former Colorado star in the first place.
Following the Browns’ win over the Panthers on Friday, Sanders even confronted – albeit jokingly – veteran beat reporter Tony Grossi, in which he asked why only negative things were being reported about him.
With the ongoing battle to become the starter, many now feel that Sanders is essentially just being used as a pawn in the Browns’ ‘chaotic’ quarterback game.
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