Thanks to a perfect storm of quarterback injuries and a 1-3 start with the Cleveland Browns, the 41-year-old veteran Joe Flacco is officially headed to the Cincinnati Bengals in exchange for a sixth-round draft pick and the cost of a plane ticket. For the former Super Bowl MVP, he now gets the pleasure of throwing to Ja’Marr Chase on Sunday afternoons, and for Cleveland, it’s yet another draft pick for them to work with.
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Pretty straightforward, everybody wins. Well, everyone except Shedeur Sanders, who will still be QB3 on the Browns’ depth chart. Veteran Bailey Zappe is currently trending towards being the backup to Dillon Gabriel in Week 6. And according to Skip Bayless, Sanders being overlooked once again is a rather easy prediction to make at this point.
“Bailey Zappe was once drafted by Bill Belichick to replace Tom Brady,” Skip recalled. “If Belichick loved him, trust me, [Kevin] Stefanski loves him, and he will be elevated. He will be elevated to number two… He has no use for Shedeur Sanders. It’s going to take the owners stepping in and saying “no” to Stefanski,” he added.
In addition to noting that the Browns’ head coach will likely be “on his way out after this year,” Bayless also reasserted his belief in the 2024 Golden Arm winner. Going as far as to proclaim that Sanders has the potential to be “the greatest draft pick in the history of draft picks” if given the chance to compete, the former Undisputed host is doing his best to echo the public’s frustrations over the mistreatment of Sanders.
Ever since the infamous draft-day debacle that saw Sanders go from being a first-round pick to a day-three selection, fans and analysts alike have been campaigning on behalf of the former Colorado Buffaloes player. The departure of Flacco should have presumably opened the door for him to at least become the QB2 on the depth chart, but if and when the Browns ultimately decide to list Zappe as their QB2, that window for him to take a step towards the starting job will slam shut once again.
As Bayless suggests, the Browns seem to have next to no interest in the idea of Sanders seeing reps as a starter at any point in the 2-25 regular season. Naturally, that has caused many to wonder what the point is in Cleveland even keeping him on the roster.
Unfortunately, time is the only thing that will likely be able to answer that question. The good news, however, is that we have plenty of football left to keep us preoccupied until then.
