Shedeur Sanders is unfazed by the lack of reps with the Browns' No. 1 offense. He has more patience than his fans. (TheLandOnDemand)
You must have an active subscription to read this story.
Click Here to subscribe Now!
Editor's note: Tony Grossi is a Cleveland Browns and NFL analyst for TheLandOnDemand.com and 850 ESPN Cleveland. He has covered the Browns since 1984.
Everyone has asked the same question since the Browns’ quarterback competition began in May: Why is Shedeur Sanders the only one of the four QBs not to receive reps with the No. 1 offense?
Coaches won’t answer, so I asked Sanders if he has an answer.
Sanders thought for a moment and said, “I don’t think that’s my place to even be able to give the answer to that. I feel like it’s not in my control, so I’m not even going to think about that or have that even in my thought process of why it is.”
He went on:
“There’s a lot of people that want to have the opportunity to be at this level, and I’m here, and I’m thankful to have the opportunity. So, whenever that is, it is. But it doesn’t make me feel down or it doesn’t make me feel left out or anything, because I know who I am as a person. I know who I am as an individual, and I know what I could bring to this team. So, I can never feel less than, you know, in any circumstance.”
Sanders wouldn’t be human if he didn’t feel some frustration over his plight as the clear No. 4 QB on the Browns’ totem pole. He sees fellow rookie Dillon Gabriel receiving periodic reps with the first team. Gabriel got a few reps with smattering of 1s on Friday, but didn’t attempt a pass.
Also, on Thursday, Sanders’ precious four reps in a red zone period were undermined by two bad snaps and a false start by fourth-team offensive linemen. The fourth rep was a called handoff.
Wasn’t that frustrating? I asked.
“Nah,” Sanders said. “This is the thing. I don’t ever take anything as frustrating because I know everybody tries their best. So like, even, you know, throughout everything in college and everything, I was never frustrated -- ever -- at teammates, at everybody, because I know everybody’s going out there doing their best.
“So, if you’re doing your best and you tell me, you look me in the eye and tell me you’re doing your best. I know I’m out here trying to do my best. I know I make mistakes. I know you make mistakes. So, it’s like, why would I be mad? We are all in similar situations, so that doesn’t really frustrate me at all.
“You know, it doesn’t frustrate me being able to have an opportunity to. We have days on days and days and just relationships and, you know, you could look at somebody in their eye, and be like, ‘My bad, bro.’ Like, that’s what it was. I’m like, ‘All good. It’s no problem.’ Because who knows how much time everybody has to spend together. It’s about relationships overall. So, I don’t want any memories of me being negative or being mad at any situation that happened.”
So in his first training camp, Sanders has exhibited amazing patience. He says his time will come and when it does he will be ready for it.
Before Sanders entered the media tent for his scheduled availability, he noticed Cleveland-native linebacker Jerome Baker had a few media members asking him questions. Rather than walk to the main podium and draw everyone’s attention, out of respect to Baker Sanders asked Browns PR officials to hold off until Baker was done.
“You know, I know a lot of people want the content. I know I’m a producer, so, nah, I never want to make anybody feel any type of way about anything,” Sanders said. “So, it was important that he gets everything he needs to say out, and everybody captures what he has and then now I’m here.”
Every Sanders media availability leaves the media smiling.
The play-action king
At the June minicamp, Gabriel said at one time at Central Florida he was known as “the play-action king.”
But that was in his first three college seasons. His last three – two at Oklahoma and one at Oregon – Gabriel played mostly out of the shotgun and executed RPOs, not play-action passes.
Well, one of the revelations of the first week of training camp is that Gabriel is quite good at executing the play-fake, which is an essential skill set for a quarterback in Kevin Stefanski’s offense.
“It is surprising,” quarterbacks coach Bill Musgrave said of Gabriel’s play-action game. “He’s done a really super job, especially the under-center play thinking and the footwork. He’s remarkably clean being asked to do those type of techniques.”
Gabriel said he worked on the technique in the time between minicamp and training camp.
“Yeah, everyone does, you know, and I think just something that you’re going to want to pride yourself on and how good you can make the run look like the pass and vice versa,” Gabriel said. “So, that’s something that you try to work on and we emphasize throughout practice, but also, the time you have off to continue to rep it.”
Numbers, please
It was another winning day for the defense. Cornerback Greg Newsome had multiple PBUs. The defense allowed only one TD in red zone period. DeAndre Carter made a really good grab on a pass from Kenny Pickett.
The tone was set in a one-on-one period to start the day – receivers v. cornerbacks. Joe Flacco and Pickett were on one field against 1s and 2s and Gabriel and Sanders tossed on another field with 3s and 4s. There were so many balls that hit the ground thrown by Flacco and Pickett that all offensive players did pushups after the period. The rookies enjoyed more success in their period.
For the day, overall …
Flacco: 4 of 11.
Pickett: 2 of 6, 1 TD.
Gabriel: 4 of 8.
Sanders: 5 of 8.
Fans were admitted for the first time and they were disappointed at the absence of offensive fireworks. Besides the catch by Carter, the only highlights in the passing game were a sharp Flacco-to-Jamari Thrash connection on a quick slant, and a Sanders completion to tight end Blake Whiteheart in the middle of the field.
There was an emphasis on the run game in team drills and rookie Dylan Sampson made the most of it.
Happy trails
Linebacker Jordan Hicks announced his retirement via Instagram in the morning.
Hicks, 33, was expected to join rookie Carson Schwesinger as the projected starting linebackers in Jim Schwartz’s base 4-2-5 scheme.
In part, Hicks wrote: "I leave this chapter with deep gratitude for every lesson, challenge, and victory. I'm proud of what I accomplished on the field, but even more proud of the man I've become because of it.”
In his only season with the Browns in 2024, Hicks played 12 games and had 78 tackles, two sacks and four PBUs.
Hicks participated in the Browns’ offseason program but at some point decided not to report to training camp. In his place, third-year pro Mohamoud Diabate has been repping with the first team defense alongside rookie Carson Schwesinger.
Others expected to compete for Hicks’ spot are Devin Bush, Winston Reid and Jerome Baker.
Stefanski said, “When you lose a player due to injury or retirement or whatever, there’s opportunities that come up for younger players. In this day and age, young players play early at these positions, so they may be counted on and that’s why we’re working so hard.”
Brownie bits
Running back Jerome Ford (undisclosed injury) missed his third practice. Also out were cornerback Tony Brown (undisclosed) and receiver Michael Woods (hand). Receiver Cedric Tillman left practice late with an apparent lower leg injury …
Stefanski has said that offensive coaches will huddle after Saturday’s practice and reassess the quarterback rotation when practices resume after Sunday’s first off day. But Musgrave downplayed any changes. “Next week will be important, and I don’t know if there’ll be any earth-shattering or eart- shaking changes,” Musgrave said. “I think it’ll be a lot more of the same. All four guys are really making good progress.”