In one season he has not practiced reps with the first team offense.
For a head coach who would still have him as the third quarterback if Joe Flacco hadn’t been traded.
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Shedeur Sanders finally got some regular season snaps on Sunday for the Cleveland Browns. Unsurprisingly, he looked like a fifth-round rookie quarterback who was pressured into taking advantage of an opportunity instead of being prepared for it. Next week, that could be different. Now the Browns have to strike the difficult balance of elevating Sanders as the potential Week 12 starter while monitoring Dillon Gabriel’s health in concussion protocol. And how next week goes could tell us what the rest of the season will look like for Sanders.
One way or another, they have to improve since the 23-16 loss to the Baltimore Ravens. A game that Sanders’ critics will point to as proof positive that some of his toughest traits (taking sacks, running backwards to escape pockets, mechanically releasing on throws, holding the ball too long) are still front and center. In two quarters of work, Sanders was 4 of 16 for 47 passing yards with one interception and no offensive points. The result was the Browns blowing a 16-10 halftime lead and falling to 2-8.
In some respects, Sanders’ numbers could have been worse, with Ravens safety Kyle Hamilton dropping an interception that was thrown at his chest, and the Browns recovering a fumble that Sanders fumbled. In other ways, he could have been better, too, with a 30-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Gage Larvadain being tipped at the last moment in the end zone. That throw, along with a 25-yard completion to tight end Harold Fannin, were two bright spots in an otherwise dismal half of football.
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So what does a half of football mean when Sanders wasn’t the quarterback ready for this opportunity? Well, at least two things.
First, it gives you an idea of why the initial plan heading into the regular season was to have Flacco on the roster and backing up Gabriel once he ascended to the starting job. The staff didn’t want Sanders to come into action like he did against the Ravens, largely because it was going to look like what he ended up looking like: a rookie who has a long way to go in his development and a coaching staff that is already dedicating every opportunity to Gabriel. It’s hard enough trying to perfect a rookie quarterback who is a starter, a quarterback who needs all the practice reps and live-action snaps he can get. But now you put a second rookie behind him and there’s virtually no way to operate without starving one or both of them.
This is part of the misconception that Sanders should have been participating with the first-team offense all along. This is not how you develop a rookie quarterback to be a starter. You don’t split those reps between two rookies, because then neither of them will get everything they need at the position. Again, that’s why the initial plan was to have Flacco as Gabriel’s backup. because he doesn’t need repetitions. Gabriel could eat up all the practice reps and then if he got hurt in a game, Flacco could step in with a wealth of experience that instantly prepared him for the moment. But when Flacco walked out the door and Sanders was promoted to the No. 2 spot, a problem was created. Now you had Gabriel, who needs all the time with the first-team offense to develop as a starter… and you also had Sanders, who needs time with the first-team offense to develop as a starter. player. Trying to balance practice reps between the two would be detrimental to both.
The Browns opted to stick with their plan entering the season and developing a rookie. And when Gabriel fell, it became a difficult opportunity for Sanders. Whether it was Week 11, Week 13 or Week 18, he was going to play his first NFL snaps at a disadvantage, because he was always going to be a very distant second priority for the team. No amount of complaining from the media or sports radio or the fan base was going to change that. And the result was what we saw in Sanders on Sunday: a player who wasn’t ready for the moment because he wasn’t ready for the moment. The mystery of what it would be like when the time finally came no longer exists. We know it.
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The second thing he provided Sunday is an answer to what this changes for the Browns and Sanders. In one word? Nothing. Gabriel suffered a concussion, but that didn’t keep him out of the starting job. Stefanski made it clear after the loss. When Gabriel clears the concussion protocol, he will once again be the starting quarterback. If he can’t clear the protocols before the Week 12 game against the Las Vegas Raiders, then it will be Shedeur who takes over the job, temporarily.
That statement should wake up some of the people who are still frustratingly hoping (dreaming?) that the Browns are open to grooming Sanders to be the starting quarterback. They are not. They haven’t been since the season started. And realistically, they never had that mentality from the moment training camp started. Sanders getting a crash course in the second half against the Ravens wasn’t the Browns suddenly changing tune. It was the coaching staff that had no other option on the table. And nothing about Sanders’ performance will make Stefanski suddenly think he’s been doing everything wrong. In any case, it is quite the opposite. Now the coaching staff has duct tape to point to and rightly say, “He’s not ready.”
Can that change? It’s the same response that has resonated since Sanders got snaps in exhibition games: If he turns it on completely, that won’t be ignored. Let’s project it over the course of next week. If Gabriel remains in the concussion protocol and Sanders gets a full week of practice as the No. 1 QB…then you take that week of practice and translate it into a surprising performance against the Raiders…then you have a tangible argument. Then you can say, “Here are the results when you dedicate 100 percent of these practice opportunities to me.”
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Because right now, his supporters’ main argument is just a theory: Sanders is struggling with development because he’s not getting reps with the first-team offense and he’s not getting the attention he needs from the staff. Maybe that’s true. Or maybe his skill set in college (being hyper-accurate and composed under pressure) is born from an offensive system that will never translate to the NFL level. Perhaps the speed of the game at this level is too much for him. A vast ocean of wildly successful college quarterbacks have never made it to this league simply because the game never slows down for them.
It could be Sanders. In fact, it could be Gabriel too. There are seven more exits to discover. Next week suddenly becomes very important. Whether it was the first week Sanders was treated like he could be the future of the Browns quarterback position, or the moment he was once again moved back into the backup role for now and maybe forever.