After unexpectedly falling to the fifth round, Shedeur Sanders could have pouted and aired his thoughts out on social media. None of that happened; in fact, the former Colorado Buffaloes star took everything in stride.
Sanders put his head down and got to work, and his Cleveland Browns‘ coaches have noticed that work ethic. Furthermore, Browns’ front office members believe Sanders has a legitimate shot to be the Week 1 starter, per ESPN’s Kimberley A. Martin.
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On Wednesday, Browns offensive coordinator Tommy Rees became the latest coach to highlight the rookie quarterback’s attitude since coming into an NFL building.
“He’s worked his tail off,” Rees said about Sanders. “He’s really put in a lot of work, as all those guys are. You can tell on the mental side of the game, learning the system, calling it and having that rhythm to it, he’s put a lot of work and time and effort into that. When you do that, the game starts to slow down and you can focus on finding completions. He’s done a nice job of that as camp progresses.”
With three other quarterbacks fighting for the top quarterback job in Cleveland and him being a fifth-round selection, Sanders’s only option is to work hard and hope his talent eventually prevails. Joe Flacco and Kenny Pickett have NFL starts in their pocket, and fellow rookie Dillon Gabriel was drafted two rounds earlier, placing even more pressure on Sanders to perform during practices.
So far, Sanders’ performances have been impressive, even if he is not receiving many first-team reps. ESPN Cleveland had Sanders completing 9-of-14 passes for three touchdowns and an interception during 7-on-7 and 11-on-11 team drills at Wednesday’s practice.
Cleveland wraps up its OTAs this Friday ahead of mandatory veteran minicamp starting next week. All rookies will have roughly a month and a half off before the Browns begin training camp in late July, when the quarterback battle should heat up even more.
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This article originally appeared on Buffaloes Wire: Shedeur Sanders earning high marks from Cleveland Browns’ OC at OTAs