Ever since the news first broke that Shedeur Sanders turned down not one, but two teams throughout the midst of his fall in the 2025 NFL Draft, fans and analysts have been eager to share their takes. The majority have been understanding of his hesitancy to spend the first four years of his career sitting on the bench behind the likes of Lamar Jackson and Jalen Hurts. But in the eyes of the former NFL scout, John Middlekauff, that may prove to be a foolish decision just yet.
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According to Middlekauff, “If most of us were in Shedeur’s shoes, we would do everything our dad is telling us to do when he’s Deion freaking Sanders.” Suffice to say, when your father is one of the best players to ever grace the grid iron, you tend to trust his career advice a bit more than others.
Then again, it’s not as if Sanders was revealing any hidden truths. If anything, Middlekauff believes that the lack of a proper mentor could ultimately hinder him in his quest to becoming the best quarterback that he possibly can.
“Listening to Deion talk like, ‘I never learned anything from the bench.’ Well, no sh*t. Once you fall to the fifth round and you’re a quarterback, you are a 100% lock to be on the bench. And his big thing was ‘We didn’t want him to go somewhere with a quarterback.’ That’s the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard,” he said, before adding: “You don’t want to be Lamar Jackson’s backup and be a part of the Ravens? Are you insane? …Bad advice. I think he put his son in a sh*tty, sh*tty spot.”
Unfortunately, for both of the Sanders, the former Colorado Buffalo doesn’t seem to be any closer to the starting job despite the fact that Joe Flacco, along with the rest of the Browns, have struggled their way to a 1-2 start this season. Were it not for the errant passes of Jordan Love and the questionable decision making of the Green Bay Packers, Cleveland would be looking at a winless record right now.
Nevertheless, the Browns figure to opt for Dillon Gabriel first and foremost should Flacco continue to falter or succumb to injury. Heading into their Week 4 inter-conference match up, the Detroit Lions are -8.5-point betting favorites against Cleveland.
After that, they’ll host a rather dangerous Minnesota Vikings team in Week 5 prior to renewing their divisional rivalry with the Pittsburgh Steelers. To put it plainly, unless the Browns are able to pull off yet another statistically improbable upset, then they are all but destined to wind up with a 1-5 record to start the season.
It’s the same ol’ Brownies, and at this point in time, not even the 2024 Golden Arm winner seems capable of bringing some excitement to the city of Cleveland. With that in mind, perhaps it’s best that he remains on the bench.
