The Cleveland Browns have something to actually be excited about this season in Shedeur Sanders. He shined in his NFL preseason debut, throwing a couple touchdown passes in the Browns’ dominating 30-10 win over Carolina on Friday night. Early season hype is good, especially when it involves a position that has otherwise been a disappointment. In a way, the Browns got some answers to their quarterback problems. But they’re far from final.
Sanders’ first preseason game is just that: preseason. What happens in the preseason doesn’t mean much, other than they can play well in a game-simulated environment. Sanders has passed that test. But Kevin Stefanski still needs a litany of other answers before working Sanders into first team reps in practice.
Since being drafted and participating in training camp and rookie camp, Sanders has yet to take first team reps and has been relegated to the bottom of the depth chart. Stefanski said, per cleveland.com, that he’s pumping the brakes on unleashing Sanders with the first team. He said he wants to see how the injuries pan out and not necessarily taking reps away from the others.
Essentially, that first preseason game wasn’t enough to sway Stefanski, but I’m sure it caught his eye. The Browns have an open-door policy when it comes to their quarterback room with Dillon Gabriel and Sanders as the rookies, Joe Flacco as the most experienced veteran and Kenny Pickett and Tyler Huntley as potential options too. You can’t blame him for hesitating on big moves.
Shedeur Sanders’ preseason debut was a step in the right direction, but he still has work to do
This shouldn’t be a surprise. Once upon a time, DeShone Kizer looked elite in the preseason. Then he went on to win just two games in his Browns tenure, including an 0-16 season. Preseason hype does not lead to regular season success. One thing you have to give the Browns credit for is that they’re not jumping the gun on their quarterback situation.
Stefanski will probably never come out and say it, but Sanders’ first preseason game is probably a blessing in disguise. The best thing for a team is to have a reason to let players go and while Sanders isn’t playing with first teamers yet, he gave the front office reason to seriously consider him as Joe Flacco’s backup. Flacco will most likely be the starter.
The Browns are going to want to see what Gabriel and Pickett can do with this team when they get healthy before making definitive decisions, so Stefanski not opening up the door for Sanders to take first team reps yet isn’t a bad thing. Gabriel was their first option so I’m sure they’ll want to evaluate him fairly before making any decisions.
Cleveland now knows what it has in Sanders. Once they figure out what they have in Pickett and Gabriel, that will help them solidify their quarterback room. Slowly but surely, the Browns will figure out the mess they’ve created with now five active quarterbacks.
Sanders has put himself in position to be a frontrunner to make the 53-man roster. Now it’s up to the other guys to step up too.