The Cleveland Browns quarterback situation remains tenuous with Shedeur Sanders waiting in the wings for his shot at playing in the NFL.
This week, the Browns benched veteran Joe Flacco and named fellow rookie Dillon Gabriel the starter for a Week 5 matchup against the Minnesota Vikings.
As Sanders’ words have been under a microscope with the quarterback drama in the backdrop, the rookie quarterback turned heads this week with a pantomime performance, expressing emotions and gestures without vocally speaking, when speaking to reporters in the locker room on Wednesday, Oct. 1.
There were widespread reactions to Sanders’ antics, including from his father, Deion, who weighed in on his son’s actions.
In a comment on Instagram, Deion replied with laughing emojis at his son’s game of charades with reporters, according to ESPN Cleveland.
“Good 1 son. You did that,” Deion added.
While the driving narrative of Shedeur’s mime performance was spun as a response to Gabriel getting the starting nod over Shedeur, ESPN’s Adam Schefter suggested otherwise, later reporting that Sanders’ pantomiming “was in response to ESPN analyst Rex Ryan criticizing the rookie QB earlier this week.”
“Something’s missing with this kid, he talks he runs his mouth like, ‘I can be starting quarterback’ with his arms crossed,” Ryan opined. “Get your a** in the front row and study. You got the talent to be the [starting quarterback], you should be embarrassed you’re not the [starter] now.”
Shedeur’s presence continues to be polarizing in Cleveland as his mime performance showed that even an omission of words can subject him to scrutiny.
"This is insane," Dan Labbe said on the “Orange and Brown Talk” podcast after seeing Shedeur’s pantomiming. "This is one of the craziest things I have ever seen. … This is one of the most bizarre things that has happened there when I've been in that building.
"The next time somebody says Shedeur is ready to start, I'm just going to find a copy of this video and say, no, he's not. He's clearly not mature enough to be a starting quarterback in the NFL. That's what this told me today," Labbe added.
Whether Shedeur is ready to start or not, the quarterback carousel in Cleveland is officially spinning and could see him thrust into action.
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