Legendary NFL running back Emmitt Smith did not hold back when speaking about the Cleveland Browns and the Shedeur Sanders situation.
Folks around the NFL have thought that Shedeur Sanders was set up for failure from the start by former head coach Kevin Stefanski, who is now the new head coach of the Atlanta Falcons. The Browns recently hired Todd Monken as their new head coach for the 2026 season. When Monken was asked about the QB situation in Cleveland, Monken’s comments rubbed some people the wrong way, including NFL Hall of Famers.
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Monken stated that he “wasn’t ready to hand out the job,” and that he was “excited to coach all of the QBs in that room.” During an interview with Kay Adams during Super Bowl Week, Emmitt Smith had a lot to say.
“I guess coaches want to make sure guys know there’s no security in their position, and they want them to be as competitive as possible. No one wants to hand anything to them. This is how they’re treating Shedeur. But they handed it [the starting job] to Drake Maye. They also handed it to the kid in Jacksonville [Trevor Lawrence],” Smith said. “What does Cleveland have? Absolutely nothing. So what’s the debate? Are you going to give it to Dillon [Gabriel] again?”
In the defense of Trevor Lawrence and Drake Maye, Maye is in the Super Bowl this year, and both were top-three picks in their respective draft classes. The Browns used only a Day 3 pick on Shedeur Sanders.
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Sanders only started seven games for the Browns in 2025, completing 56.6% of his passes for 1,400 yards, 7 touchdowns, and 10 interceptions.
This article originally appeared on Touchdown Wire: Legendary NFL RB Critiques the Browns/Shedeur: A No-Holds-Barred Take