Despite his Pro Bowl last year, Shedeur Sanders hasn’t even won widespread approval for the Browns, nevermind a starting job. While he could be the favorite going into this season, that’s as much as by default as anything. They let him finish out the season last year, wanting to see what they had in him. Then they gutted the coaching staff, even if the new head coach liked him coming out of the draft.
Shedeur Sanders was the second quarterback the Browns drafted last year, waiting until the fifth round. By then, they already drafted Dillon Gabriel, who started ahead of him. Joe Flacco began the season as the starter ahead of both, and he also proved to be better than both. For now, though, former Steelers QB Ben Roethlisberger isn’t ready to judge.
“It’s typical Cleveland, you’re drafting two quarterbacks in the same draft. I don’t understand what they’re doing”, he said on the Deebo & Joe podcast about the Browns drafting Shedeur Sanders and Dillon Gabriel last year. “I don’t like to judge quarterbacks within the first three years, good or bad”, he added.
“There’s a couple exceptions. I think after the second or third year, I said, ‘Okay, Joe Burrow’s gonna be a player now’. Certain guys, you kind of can feel it. But there are some guys that are like, ‘Okay, I’m gonna need four years’”, he continued. “Because, again, there’s just too many factors involved. So I will reserve judgement or my opinion on Shedeur [Sanders]. Give me a little more time down the road”.
Shedeur Sanders went 3-4 as a starter last season, which is actually good for a Browns quarterback. He went 120-for-212 for 1,400 yards with 7 touchdowns to 10 interceptions, however. He also fumbled twice, but added a rushing touchdown. The fact that he made the Pro Bowl, however, gave many people something to laugh about.
Currently, the Browns have three quarterbacks on their roster: Sanders, Gabriel, and Deshaun Watson. The latter is the player who would have destroyed the organization if there were anything to destroy. Spearheaded by owner Jimmy Haslam, they traded three first-round picks, among other picks, for him. They also gave him a fully-guaranteed five-year, $230 million deal.
In four seasons, Watson has started 19 games, missing 11 due to suspension and the rest due to injury. It’s likely that, at some point along the way, they would have benched him anyway. But he still counts $44,956,514 against this year’s cap, plus another $87,551,864 in dead money after this season. This is, like Shedeur Sanders’ Pro Bowl, objectively funny.