The Shedeur Sanders disrespect continues.
On the Cleveland Browns‘ second depth chart of the summer, the former Colorado Buffaloes star is still ranked fourth, behind Joe Flacco, Kenny Pickett and fellow rookie, Dillon Gabriel.
This comes after Sanders dropped 157 total yards and two touchdowns through three-and-a-half quarters in a 30-10 win over the Carolina Panthers.
Yes, he may have been a fifth-round draft pick, but some may have also forgotten that the 23-year-old was initially projected to be a first-rounder, and his play on Friday night looked every bit of a first-round pick.
Ahead of his 2025 preseason debut for the Browns, his NFL Hall of Famer father Deion, had some motivating words for his son, which was clipped alongside a video of Sanders doing his traditional pregame walk, that he would do with his father at Colorado.
“Son, I love you,” Coach Prime said. “We’ve been on this journey boy. All these people that are here, they think they know but they don’t.
“We’ve got the Lord on our side, son. Look at all this. God is so good, so faithful. He presented this opportunity to you and no-one else.
“So I want you to go out there and make them remember your last name. Take your time, hold the ball, get rid of it. Completions, we want completions. Enough completions we gonna run out of field.
“But mostly, I just want you to do you. Do your thing. Just because you’re on a different stage, doesn’t mean it won’t be the same thing. You know who you are, you’ve been doing this for so long.”
Sanders has been hustling throughout the offseason as if he has a very large chip on his shoulder, seen partaking in midnight workouts, as well as hiring a specialist quarterback coach to help him on his bid to move up the Browns depth chart.
However, his most recent setback with him having failed to move up Cleveland’s depth chart should only add fuel to his fire to become an NFL starter, with the Sanders family mentality like nobody else’s.
Even ex-NFL stars are confused as to why Sanders is still ranked poorly among those within the Browns organization.
Speaking on the latest episode of their Nightcap podcast, both Chad ‘Ochocino’ Johnson and Shannon Sharpe were left perplexed by what else Sanders can do to show that he is the real deal and climb past an unproven rookie, a shoddy veteran, and a 40-year-old who’s very much in the twilight of his career.
“So you see Shedeur do what he does in three quarters of football,” Ocho said. “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 interjected and asked: “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,” the former Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver 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.”
As it stands, fan favorite Flacco is the name that all the other Browns quarterbacks are trying to beat, and that includes veteran Tyler Huntley, who is Cleveland’s latest addition to the QB room after being signed in training camp.
Sanders’ bid to move up the depth chart has been somewhat boosted by Pickett having sustained a hamstring injury which has kept him out of most of training camp.
However, the Browns – whose owner Jimmy Haslam firmly distanced himself away from the drafting of Sanders – are appearing to stand pat on their decision that he is not necessarily in their future plans.
Only time will tell if Sanders really does make the Browns – and the rest of the NFL who passed on him for that matter – look foolish for drafting him, and then hanging him out to dry.
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