Through two weeks of action, the Cleveland Browns have been about as downtrodden as most would have expected. Their 0-2 start includes zero snaps for much-talked-about QB3 Shedeur Sanders. Joe Flacco was always going to win the Week 1 starting job, but he hasn’t exactly inspired confidence so far. With Kenny Pickett shipped off to the Las Vegas Raiders, all the Browns have behind the 41-year-old Flacco are two rookies.
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And they lost so badly in Week 2 that head coach Kevin Stefanski decided to give his most highly drafted QB, Dillon Gabriel, a third-rounder, a shot to stretch his legs in a real NFL game. The Oregon product went 3-for-3 for 19 yards and a TD in garbage time.
Well, if it weren’t for the guy sitting behind him, that would have been that. But Shedeur Sanders drives so much of the NFL media machine right now that Gabriel’s cameo brought Sanders’ name back to the forefront.
Just before that game, an ESPN report stated that Sanders and his team had rejected a chance to land with the Baltimore Ravens as Lamar Jackson‘s backup, which allowed him to fall to the Browns. While many believe that this was a short-sighted decision considering his QB3 status in Cleveland, ESPN analyst Ryan Clark disagrees.
“If the reports of Shedeur turning down the Ravens are true, then I say Good for him. It’s the right decision,” Clark said in an episode of The Pivot.
“Lamar Jackson is the greatest, most dynamic, & impactful runner of the football to have ever played the QB position… Oh, and a historically efficient passer. No one is playing QB for the Ravens as long as that man is standing upright,” added the former safety.
No one who is looking to win a starting job in the NFL should want to go to Baltimore. Buffalo and Kansas City are similar. Shedeur may have ended up as the QB3, but he still had a better chance of beating Flacco, Gabriel, and Pickett than he would have of overtaking Jackson in Baltimore. Not to mention that Sanders and Jackson could not play a more different style of QB, as Clark went on to explain:
“They have 2 totally different playing styles as well. He could learn the level professionalism, maturity, & leadership it takes to be elite, but there would be no transition of skill sets! Might as well go a place you’d have some chance of playing.”
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Lamar Jackson used to be an easy injury shout during the first few years of his career, but he has only missed one game in the last two years. It seems he has figured out how to maintain his health while continuing to be a dual-threat QB, so Sanders’ chances at playing in Baltimore would have been slim.
Cleveland, meanwhile, intends to continue on with Flacco as the starter. For now, at least. Head coach Kevin Stefanski said that he doesn’t believe Flacco has played poorly enough to lose his job, so Sanders remains QB3.
If Cleveland does throw caution to the wind and roll with Gabriel soon, one would hope they would slot their other rookie, Sanders, in as the backup. There’s really no point in trotting out Flacco anymore.
