Some beforehand accused Cleveland Browns head coach Kevin Stefanski of sabotaging the event of rookie quarterback Shedeur Sanders as Stefanski stored Sanders buried on the depth chart all through the summer season.
A day after it was realized that Cleveland had agreed to commerce Kenny Pickett to the Las Vegas Raiders for a 2026 fifth-round draft decide, Stefanski confirmed that Sanders will enter the Week 1 matchup towards the Cincinnati Bengals on Sept. 7 because the Browns’ QB3 behind starter Joe Flacco and fellow first-year professional Dillon Gabriel.
Throughout a current chat with Jason Reid of Andscape, former NFL quarterback Akili Smith defined that the tape exhibits Sanders is behind because it pertains to enjoying the game’s most necessary place on the highest degree.
“If you happen to take a while and break down the tape, and also you perceive what ideas they’re operating, you see that Dillon Gabriel is forward of Shedeur,” Smith mentioned. “Nobody who appears to be like on the tape of these two and understands what they’re might see it some other manner. Gabriel is forward of him, and an enormous factor is pocket presence. Shedeur took a sack in [the last preseason] sport…it was ridiculous. You had all these folks [on social media] blaming the road. He’s dropping again [too far]. He needed to step up within the pocket or throw the ball away. It’s one or the opposite.”
Sanders took 5 sacks and accomplished simply 3-of-6 passes for 14 yards in Cleveland’s preseason finale versus the Los Angeles Rams on Aug. 23. In the meantime, Gabriel linked on
12-of-19 passes for 129 yards and a landing in that contest.
Smith is amongst those that imagine Gabriel’s tape from August “is simply higher” than what Sanders produced.
Sanders took an FBS-high 94 sacks over his remaining two school seasons earlier than he fell to the fifth spherical of the 2025 NFL Draft. Within the eyes of some, his play towards the Rams confirmed that it’s going to take time for him to unlearn sure dangerous habits he picked up over time.
“Anybody who’s acquired such an extended solution to go has to maintain his nostril clear, not activate the group and maintain working,” Smith added. “He has to place all the things he has into persevering with to get higher every day. And that manner, even when it doesn’t occur in Cleveland, you’re nonetheless giving your self an opportunity. You’d present different groups that you really want this. You’d present how a lot it means to you. Then possibly it occurs elsewhere.”
The Browns buying and selling Pickett signifies they’re devoted to persevering with their growth of Sanders by way of a minimum of the 2025 season. That mentioned, the potential return of Deshaun Watson is looming over Sanders’ standing as Flacco prepares to start out towards Cincinnati.
