Shedeur Sanders is now the Browns’ starting quarterback—for now—but is his relationship with HC Kevin Stefanski secure? It’s a topic reporters forced Sanders to address in his first press conference as the designated starter. Fueled primarily by a small minority of sycophants such as Josina Anderson who have accused the organization of sabotaging the young quarterback, the premise is absurd, but explosive.
“You just want to start trouble, huh?”, Sanders said when one person broached the subject of that narrative about his relationship with Stefanski. Asked to elaborate, he said, “What people do outside the building isn’t really in my control. It’s not in my power, so I don’t—y’all act like I can go out there and tell them to do whatever. That’s nothing I can control, and nothing I can do”.
The Browns drafted Shedeur Sanders in the fifth round, two rounds after selecting Dillon Gabriel. They began the season with Joe Flacco as their starter, Gabriel backing him up. Eventually, they benched Flacco, and Gabriel started, though he struggled. With the latter in the concussion protocol last week, Sanders got the opportunity to start. While he didn’t have a game to remember, he won, and so he gets another shot.
“I’m definitely not comfortable”, Sanders said about his new role as a starter. He talked about understanding that this opportunity can be taken away from you at any moment and you have to consistently perform. “I always want to exceed expectations and always want to grow. Each and every week I want to put out a better product”.
But that is true of any team, not just Kevin Stefanski, and not just for Shedeur Sanders. The reality is that his most ardent, diehard supporters are doing him no favors by coddling him. It’s not unusual for a fifth-round quarterback to begin his career as a third-stringer. It’s not unusual for a rookie backup to not take first-team reps when the starter is also a rookie. But unfortunately, uneducated supporters see things they don’t understand and assume that it’s sabotage rather than just how things work.
“Overall, I’m just happy to be here. Coach Stefanski’s been coaching since I got here, and he’s been doing a very great job with everything that’s going on”, Sanders said. “Definitely like a coach. He tells me what I need to do on and off the field. We’ve definitely grown our relationship, and everything has grown”.
It’s almost as if the only reason this has become a story is because of non-football reasons. People have their narrative, and they need to justify their position. Maybe there is some truth to the notion that Kevin Stefanski didn’t want to draft Shedeur Sanders. But nothing he has done as a coach has given any indication of him not giving Sanders a fair chance. He didn’t earn the starting job. Really, even now he didn’t, it’s just that everybody else is worse. But the Browns is the Browns.
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