Not so fast, Cleveland Browns fans – Shedeur Sanders may not be QB2 just yet.
Following the shocking trade of Joe Flacco to the injury-ridden Cincinnati Bengals, Browns head coach Kevin Stefanski has claimed that he is still weighing up who will be the back-up to rookie starter Dillon Gabriel.
Shedeur Sanders is still waiting to get onto an NFL fieldGETTY“[The Flacco trade] took us by surprise,” he said. “They called us…happened very fast.”
On the quarterback situation, he said: “Still working through all roster type things…with young players. I’m always mindful of their development. Let the week play out and make a decision later on.”
The 40-year-old veteran quarterback made just four appearances for Cleveland this season in what was his second stint with the team.
Having thrown more interceptions (six) than touchdowns (two) through those four outings, Flacco Fever had died long before the decision came to bench him in favor of Gabriel.
With Flacco now out the team, having been traded along with a future sixth-round pick to the Bengals in return for a future fifth-round pick, this has seen other Browns rookie quarterback Shedeur Sanders move up the depth chart from third to second-string – at least for now.
With the Browns having eight – yes, EIGHT – quarterbacks on their payroll for a combined cap hit of $41.6million, including the $230m Deshaun Watson, who is on the PUP list following an Achilles tear last season, there is still some speculation over whether another quarterback will be placed onto the active roster.
As it stands, Bailey Zappe, who has 15 games worth of NFL experience under his belt across three seasons, is on the Browns’ practice squad.
Some, such as Cleveland 92.3 The Fan host Anthony Lima, believe that the Browns could elevate Zappe above Sanders on the depth chart, in light of the former Colorado Buffaloes‘ pantomime interview antics in the run-up to Week 5 of the season.
“The only Shedeur question that anyone should be asking is would they go to Zappe before they go to Shedeur and I think the answer is yes,” Lima said.
Flacco was exiled from the Browns after a torrid start to life as their starting quarterbackGetty Dillon Gabriel has replaced the departed Joe Flacco as QB1 for the BrownsGETTY“They do not want to see Shedeur Sanders anytime. It’s why every day there’s a new leak coming from that building about how unprepared he is and how he’s walking around the building not doing what he’s supposed to.”
Stephen A. Smith makes bold prediction about Sanders
Buffs head coach and NFL legend Deion Sanders was asked in a press conference on Tuesday about the trade of Flacco and what it meant for his son, whereby he deflected the question and focused on his own issues at hand, with Colorado 2-3 on their season.
“I don’t care,” Sanders told the media. “I don’t give a darn about the Browns at all. I care about the Colorado Buffaloes. I do love me some Shedeur Sanders, though, believe that. I care about him.
“The rest of that mess, I don’t. I’m a coach that’s trying win just like they’re trying to win games, but I could care less of who they traded.”
ESPN key figurehead Stephen A. Smith praised Coach Prime for the handling of this specific question, calling his response both “brilliant” and “calculated.”
“I think that was a brilliant response by Prime Time Deion Sander,” Smith said on Wednesday’s First Take.
“I think it was very smart and very calculated from the standpoint of sending the message of ‘I’ve got priorities over here. I’m not concerned about that.
“I love that guy because he’s my son. But there’s his business and that’s their football team. I got my own issues over here…’
Stephen A. Smith has shared his two cents on Deion Sanders’ response about his son Shedeur and the BrownsGetty“The reason that that was important is because anything else could have been misconstrued, perceived in the wrong way, and ultimately held against Shedeur as an impediment to the progress that you are anticipating he will be able to make.”
The 23-year-old has been the focal point in the media circus that is the Browns and their quarterback carousel since he suffered an all-time draft slide in April.
But it is the former Oregon QB who has been focused on developing his on-field craft, and has been rewarded for that
“They’re not looking at Dillon Gabriel as if he’s a scrub… they’re giving him the look as the now QB1,” Smith added.
“Shedeur never should have been the QB3 once Flacco got demoted because we all knew that Flacco wasn’t going to be put back in there.
“So now he’s in his rightful place legitimately and officially as the QB2, and if Deion Sanders had opened his mouth and had said anything that was considered invasive or intrusive in the eyes of the Cleveland Browns, that would have been yet the latest increment to hold against Shedeur and been an impediment to him.”
Despite being the backup, Smith still believes there is an avenue for Sanders to come and make his official debut for the Browns, albeit he may have to wait until the playoff standings are more concrete.
Deion has elected to look out only for his son, and not the Browns, as he focuses on coaching his own teamGetty“My anticipation is that we will see Shedeur Sanders by around Week 13 or 14 because I don’t believe that the Cleveland Browns are going to win many games and because of that, right around that time, they’ll be eliminated from playoff contention.
“As a result of that, they’ll have nothing to lose from putting Shedeur out there just to find out what he can do and what his value may be.”
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