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Former NFL coach rips Browns QB Shedeur Sanders.
Former NFL head coach and Super Bowl-winning coach Bruce Arians took aim at Cleveland Browns rookie quarterback Shedeur Sanders.
In the lead-up to the 2025 NFL Draft, Sanders was a major storyline, and he thought he’d be a first-round pick. However, he fell to the fifth round and has been the Browns‘ third-string quarterback.
As the Browns made a quarterback change ahead of Week 5, Sanders did an interview pretending to be a mime, as a response to people saying he talks too much. However, Arians doesn’t think Sanders should be doing any media, as he has nothing to do with the game.
“Why is the third quarterback getting interviews?” Arians said on the Kay Adams Show. “He’s got nothing to do with the game. It’s all for media clicks. He’s a heck of a personality, but the personality can’t come out until you do something on the field.
It’s a big week for Dillon Gabriel and a big week for the Browns, making that transition,” Arians added. “For him to even be able to the press, I don’t know why he’s doing it… There’s no sense in having him available. Whoever is running that media relations should turn that down.”
Arians makes a fair point, as the Browns have no reason to make Sanders available to the media. He believes Cleveland is doing him no favors, but the Super Bowl-winning coach also believes Sanders needs to just focus on getting better and not speaking to the media or his actions.
Arians Gives Advice to Sanders
Although Arians did blast Sanders, he also gave the Browns‘ rookie quarterback some advice.
Arians has seen plenty of rookies try to navigate the NFL, and he believes Sanders needs to focus on himself and not what the other quarterbacks are doing.
“Just keep growing. Go to practice every day and work hard,” Arians said about Sanders. “When your time comes, be ready. Make sure you’re preparing to be the starting quarterback every week. If he is the emergency quarterback, it’s going to be in a big, big situation. He looked really good in the first ball game and looked really, really bad in the second one. We are not at practice every day, seeing why Dillon Gabriel is No. 2 and he’s No. 3, but Kevin Stefanski has been around long enough to know.”
Arians believes Sanders needs to focus on getting better in practice, and eventually, playing time will come.
Browns Coach Reveals How Sanders Can Get Playing Time
Despite Cleveland benching Joe Flacco, Sanders will remain the third-string quarterback.
Ahead of the Browns’ Week 5 matchup against the Minnesota Vikings, coach Kevin Stefanski revealed what the rookie QB needs to do to earn playing time.
“All of our players, and I include Shedeur in this, are working extremely hard. We just finished our period after practice that we do every single day, just finished a red zone 7-on-7 period where Shedeur and the rest of the younger guys are working on 10 reps,” Stefanski said. “So, he needs to continue to do exactly what he’s been doing and continue to do what all these guys are doing, which is just keep working.”
However, for the time being, Sanders will remain inactive on gamedays as the emergency QB.