Emmanuel Acho Calls Out Deion Sanders for Endorsing Shedeur’s “Negatively Impacting” Miming

Cleveland Browns head coach Kevin Stefanski was pretty adamant all offseason that Joe Flacco was his guy. Turns out, that can only take a 41-year-old so far.

Flacco has clearly lost much of the spark he showed when he joined the Browns in 2023 and went on a 4-1 run. Through four games this season, he’s managed just two touchdowns while throwing six interceptions … a level of performance Stefanski could no longer tolerate from the 2023 Comeback Player of the Year.

It is now time for the youth movement in Northern Ohio. And no, that doesn’t mean Shedeur Sanders. It means third-rounder Dillon Gabriel. Of course, Sanders was asked about the QB reshuffle, which saw Flacco and Gabriel swap while Sanders remains at the bottom. Sanders went on to respond (or didn’t respond) in perhaps the most peculiar display ever recorded in an NFL locker room.

Here’s the interview:

No, the audio on your computer is not going on the fritz. Sanders pretended to reply to every question by simply miming his answers silently. Truly bizarre. It seems like it may be a response to Rex Ryan’s overly critical comments about how Sanders “runs his mouth” too much.

He’s essentially saying, even when I don’t actually say anything, the media will find a way to get angry with me about it. It’s a valid point, but made in the strangest way possible.

Sanders is certainly not endearing himself to other front offices that could deal for him. To top it off, his father, Colorado Buffaloes head coach and NFL legend Deion Sanders, seemed to get a kick out of his son’s antics.

“Good 1 son. You did that,” he penned under an IG video of the interview, alongside several laughing and crying emojis.

It may not be ideal to see Coach Prime being so supportive of his son in this. But it should not be surprising. Neon Deion has always been supportive of his sons, first and foremost. Still, some media heads like Emmanuel Acho were quick to scold Father Sanders over that social media comment.

“The reason I hate this is because I do not want to positively reinforce something that is negatively impacting Shedeur… In this video, what Shedeur did today, it’s going to negatively impact him. No decision-maker in the NFL is going to look at that Shedeur’s actions from today in the locker room and say, ‘I think more highly of you now than I did then,'” Acho said via Speakeasy.

Funny enough, after earning the QB1 job, even Gabriel supposedly took another shot at Sanders. His “competitors and entertainers” comment in the preseason was hardly veiled, and he said something similar at his most recent presser. One would have to assume this one has something to do with the reports that Sanders told the Ravens not to draft him because he didn’t want to back up Lamar Jackson.

“You wait for the perfect time, you’re going to be waiting your whole life,” said the third-round pick.

It’s about as Browns as it gets to realize that their four-man QB battle of the summer has turned into: a trade of Kenny Pickett for no gain, the benching of Joe Flacco before October even commenced, Shedeur Sanders’ transformation into a mime, and Dillon Gabriel throwing veiled shots at his teammates.

Well done, Jimmy Haslam. Really top-notch work.