The Cleveland Browns may not have known what kind of product they were getting when they finally opted to select Shedeur Sanders with the 144th overall pick on day three of the NFL Draft, but they did know he’d bring some much-needed media coverage. However, it doesn’t appear as if the team’s owner, Jimmy Haslam, wanted this kind of attention.
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“If you would have told me on Friday night, driving home, y’all are picking Shedeur, I’d say ‘That’s not happening,‘” Haslam explained while speaking to members of the press at the team’s most recent training camp. “At the end of the day… Andrew Berry made the call to pick Shedeur.”
Despite the fact that he has yet to play a single snap of professional football, Sanders has been one of the most polarizing players of the entire NFL offseason, and it seems as if the noise is getting started. Suffice it to say, a lot of people didn’t care for Haslam’s comments, and that includes the NFL Hall of Famer, Shannon Sharpe.
Given the amount of backlash that the Browns are now fielding as a result of the owner’s comments, many are beginning to join Sharpe in wondering why Cleveland ever bothered to draft the former Buffalo in the first place. “Who asked him that? Why did he feel the need to share that information?” Sharpe questioned on the most recent episode of his Nightcap podcast.
“That’s unprompted. You’re dry snitching. Nobody asked you ‘What did you think you were going to take Shedeur in?’ Nobody asked you that. I get he’s the owner but… If you feel this way about Shedeur, why y’all still got the man? It seems like every time I turn around, somebody is trying to take a dig at him.”
According to Sharpe’s co-host and former Cincinnati Bengal, Chad “Ochocinco” Johnson, these questions are more than fair given the fact that Haslam, who has been the owner of the Browns since 2012, has never once attempted to clarify that drafting a particular player wasn’t his idea. “He’s never done this before,” Ocho exclaimed.
Considering the rich history of quarterbacks that the team has started throughout the past 25 years, Haslam’s comments were more than concerning to Johnson. Nevertheless, the former wide receiver is keeping the faith and suggesting that the Browns may just be in for a surprise after all.
“Since 2000, the Cleveland Browns have had 35 different starting quarterbacks since 2000. 35 different quarterbacks, but now you want to say that Shedeur Sanders wasn’t your pick? That’s probably why it’s going to work, because you had no dealings in him being drafted. Watch how god works.”
Sanders was withheld from participating in the team’s most recent training camp activities due to soreness in his throwing arm, but even when was able to participate, he was seldom given a chance to see first-team reps. The race for the QB1 job appears to be as wide open as ever after Kenny Pickett went down with a hamstring injury, but it remains to be seen whether or not the Browns will end up giving Sanders the chance that many believe he deserves.
