Former New York Jets head coach Rex Ryan caught even the most skeptical Shedeur Sanders in NFL media off guard this week when on ESPN’s _Get Up_, he called the Cleveland Browns rookie an “embarrassment” and demanded that Sanders sit his “a\*\* in the front row” and study up.
While Ryan is nobody’s idea of a reporter and did not reference any sourcing in Cleveland during his rant, his point that “if I know, the whole league knows” about his alleged shortcomings as a professional [led many to believe Ryan was speaking from a place of insider knowledge as a longtime coach](https://awfulannouncing.com/espn/rex-ryan-rips-shedeur-sanders-comments.html).
The benching of Joe Flacco in Cleveland and Ryan’s rant relaunched the debate over Sanders’ status in the NFL and within the Browns across sports media, with some takes more reasonable than others. [Over at the _4th and 1_ podcast](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XeDuDqFI2c0), host Cam Newton was joined by FS1’s Nick Wright to discuss some of the bigger-picture headwinds facing backup QBs in the NFL — especially famous Black players in Sanders’ position.
“Shedeur … has always been in this category, fan or not or in between, they want to be able to say, ‘Hey young man, be humble,'” said Newton, who acknowledged his defense of Sanders is personal after he was treated similarly during his come-up in the NFL. “And (Ryan’s comments provide) something that a lot of people who may not know or even like him, can’t wait to say, ‘Be humble.'”
Wright agreed, noting the level of fame and racial identity shared between Newton and Sanders.
“I think one of the only jobs in America today where you get dinged for star power is backup quarterback. Because I think the NFL is a little old-school and it’s like, everything is a distraction,” Wright explained.
“There is, with everything in life, certainly everything in America and certainly everything with sports in America, there is either a stated or unstated racial component. A racial component doesn’t mean there’s racist actors involved, it just means there’s a racial component. And there is an element of, what is one guy’s aura is another guy’s arrogance. And who gets it to be aura and who gets it to be arrogance is in the eye of a beholder.”
Newton argued that within the Browns and certain segments of NFL media, the conversation is stuck in place. The former Heisman winner and No. 1 overall NFL Draft pick believes Cleveland is trying to depress Sanders’ value while also not allowing his role on the team to become a distraction. At the same time, Newton also believes the Browns don’t want to overdo the negativity toward Sanders in case they can trade him at some point.
There could be an unspoken push, Newton argued, for well-connected NFL voices like Ryan, whose brother Rob coached in Cleveland, to echo this party line.
“When you’re saying these things on _Get Up_, which is a national show where people get their information from,” Newton said, “You’re now giving the assumption, whether it’s true or not, that this guy doesn’t work hard. That this guy feels entitled. That this guy has been anything less than what he’s supposed to be in order to compete.”
And Cam Newton doesn’t believe that Rex Ryan actually knows this to be true. Instead, Ryan is simply parroting the message the Browns want out there and exerting control over Shedeur Sanders as a fan favorite and as a developing pro quarterback.
Newton did not specifically articulate each element of what he relates to about Sanders, but it would not be hard to imagine that Newton felt these forces working against him, too. Especially once he reached a point in his career where he was more of a backup than a starter, and NFL teams deemed him to be not worth the trouble.
“Every time that we’ve made the argument about Shedeur Sanders … it’s always been because of the assumption of what he’s not,” Newton said. “Because if you give him any type of praise, from any management person in Cleveland or even Kevin Stefanski, that automatically propels him to, if he’s this good, why is he not starting?”
It is always tricky for NFL coaches to manage expectations around backups with talent. The fanbase pushes for guys like Sanders or Jaxson Dart to play and kick-start their development. Then there are the veterans who can outshine developing youngsters. Most stars don’t stick around long enough to play out the years as a backup like Flacco has, either because they don’t need the money or because as Newton describes, their mere presence is a distraction.
Perhaps the greatest takeaway of the latest iteration of the Shedeur Sanders debate is that it is complex enough to be far better suited for a voice like Newton’s in podcast form rather than to come from someone like Rex Ryan in a TV soundbite.