By Edward G. Robinson III
AFRO Sports Editor
The Cleveland Browns named rookie quarterback Shedeur Sanders starter for what remains of its lowly NFL season.
It’s about time.
Browns’ owners Dee and Jimmy Haslam should be ashamed of the way they’ve mishandled all of the business surrounding Sanders and the team’s selection of a starting quarterback.
And coach Kevin Stefanski should be embarrassed by his mysterious and disingenuous behavior throughout the process.
They should publicly apologize and reset the table to give Sanders a fresh shot at showcasing whether he’s got the requisite skill set to play in the NFL or not.
It’s all been so messy and loud.
With the passing of each NFL week, from preseason to this Sunday, the cacophony of assessment, criticism and debate about Sanders grew to an unsettling pitch. A bunch of noise I’ve tried to ignore. Observers argued on behalf of Sanders, stating that he was better than the competition. To boot, they’ve added voice to the theory that the Browns never really wanted to draft him.
Everyone’s had something to say since Sanders dropped from a projected first round pick to a fifth round selection in this year’s NFL draft. That was shocking–considering the quarterback’s stellar college career at the University of Colorado and Jackson State. His stock fell from potential top pick overall to the fifth round where Cleveland selected him 144th overall.
The Browns selected Sanders, son of the NFL Hall of Fame cornerback Deion Sanders, and signed him as a backup quarterback behind starter Joe Flacco. They traded Flacco and then named Sanders backup behind rookie draftee Dillon Gabriel–a capable quarterback with a respectable college resume.
Gabriel went to the sideline with a concussion in Week 12 and Sanders entered the game in the second half against the Baltimore Ravens. He performed poorly. Observers debated “hot takes” about Sanders not receiving enough reps with the first team. Others seized the moment to say, “told you he stinks.”
Undeterred, he started the next game against the Las Vegas Raiders and performed well in a 24-10 victory–not great enough to impress the naysayers, but good enough to ignite his supporters.
Beaming with confidence, Sanders started talking before the game began, answering a sideline reporter’s question with: “I’m who they’ve been looking for,” he said to a national TV audience.
The following week Sanders walked onto Huntington Bank Field primed–pun intended considering his father, Prime Time, was watching from the suite–for a productive afternoon against the Tennessee Titans.
His doubters squawked. More noise to ignore.
Then Stefanski made the loudest sound of the season we couldn’t ignore. Trailing by two points and following an 80-yard TD drive, he pulled Sanders out of the game before the final play. With a chance to tie the score, the coach called for a trick play. The ball was snapped to running back Quinshon Judkins, whose pass fell incomplete in the end zone. The two-point conversion attempt dissolved in confusion. And the city of Cleveland asked Stefanski, “Why did you remove your quarterback?”
“Ultimately you’re making decisions on the game that you’re playing and what’s in front of you,” Stefanski later explained about his decision.
He benched a hot-handed quarterback in a critical moment. His choice. It was a terrible one.
But I’ll show him some grace like Sanders, who wanted a shot at winning the game yet humbled himself in the postgame press conference.
“If I’m out there any play, I would wish I would always have the ball in my hands, but that’s not what football is. Sometimes you got to run the ball, sometimes you got to kick a field goal…in any situation, of course you would want to. But I know we practiced something, and we executed it in practice, and we just didn’t seem to do it today. I would never go against what the call was or anything.”
Stefanski’s explanation sounded hollow. His actions, though, speak volumes.
Now he’s changed his tone in talking about Sanders. “I’ve been really impressed by his work ethic and that’s going back to the moment he got here,” Stefanski said.
Huh?
“He has constantly and consistently gotten better in each one of these games,” he said of Sanders. “And how he’s approached this game. I feel good about where his development is heading. He knows that there are always plays that can be better. But he’s very intentional about getting better.”
It’s ironic that Sanders’ talent forced hands.
His four-touchdown performance on Sunday Dec. 7, in what was his second start of the season, proved exactly what others have said since draft day.
The man’s got talent. Now let him cook.
While the Browns fell to the Titans, Sanders competed on the same stage with rookie Cam Ward–the NFL’s overall No. 1 draft pick–on a cold, windy afternoon where he once again showcased accuracy, strength, athleticism and intelligence. He completed 23 of 42 pass attempts for 364 yards and three TDs and an interception. He rushed for a team-high 29 yards and a 14-yard touchdown. He’s the first Cleveland quarterback to pass for 300-plus yards, connect for three TDs and rush for a touchdown since 1950.
“A lot of people want to see me fail,” Sanders said following his first start against the Raiders. “It ain’t going to happen.”