The big leagues have been anything but kind to Shedeur Sanders. After the legacy media had built him up as an early first-round draft pick, the league promptly corrected that assessment by giving us one of the most unprecedented slides in the history of the NFL Draft.
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The Cleveland Browns finally put an end to the misery by selecting the Colorado rookie in the sixth round, but even they didn’t seem to be happy about it. Sanders was buried on the depth chart and has since been competing with the likes of Joe Flacco, Kenny Pickett, and now, Dillon Gabriel, for a chance at the starting job.
Nevertheless, he appeared to be in good spirits while encouraging his fans to “stay focused” while starting up his most recent live stream on Twitch. “I know things may be hard. I know sometimes you may be feeling down, but stay focused, bruh.”
Flacco and Pickett have been gone for several weeks now, and Gabriel is faltering on a weekly basis as the starter, yet Shedeur appears to be nowhere closer to the QB1 title.
The saga has been a source of frustration for nearly everyone, except for Sanders, who elected to use his free time to catch up with his father and former coach, Deion Sanders, ahead of his matchup against the Arizona Wildcats.
“Why are you here?” Coach Prime asked as Shedeur strolled into his office. “I know you need ya son,” Shedeur joked. “I know you need some love and affection, dawg.”
Considering the amount of adversity that the NFL Hall of Famer has faced both on and off the field since the start of the calendar year, it’s not as if the Browns’ rookie is wrong. Then again, the former Atlanta Falcon would likely rather see his son continuing to prepare for the moment in which Cleveland finally calls his number.
Gabriel has been anything but inspiring throughout the first several starts of his career. Almost every single one of his passing metrics is below the league average, but his pass completion percentage of 59.9% is particularly worrisome.
Of course, completing passes is Sanders’ specialty. After all, he did manage to set the all-time FBS record for career completion percentage.
If Cleveland ever tires of Gabriel’s antics, then they may finally discover what they have in Sanders. Until then, it figures to be more of the same from the same old Brownies: bad quarterback play and losing records.
If the franchise wants to justify the increase in ticket prices that is coming along with their brand new stadium, then they may want to start trying to win some games sooner rather than later. Whether or not Sanders gives them the best chance at doing so is uncertain.
What is certain, however, is the fact that as long as they remain in their current form, it’s going to be increasingly difficult for them to pack the stands beyond this season.
