Welcome To The Shedeur Sanders Era

 

One of the most interesting parts of the 2025 Browns was the idea that though the Browns offense totally sucked, they had this generational QB talent that was just sitting there on the bench that they refused to play.  There is a large and very vocal bunch of the Browns fan base that believes Shedeur Sanders is and has always been one of the best QBs in the NFL, but due to a conspiracy has been unable to take the field.  Now, it gets tricky to follow the logic path on this, so stay with me as best you can.  The only reason Sanders hasn't been playing is because he's not "one of Stefanski's guys".  Stefanski and his coaching staff refuse to place Sanders in a position to succeed because they aren't the ones that wanted to draft Sanders, and thus remain committed to destroying any chances of the fans seeing the brilliance Shadeur would inevitably bring onto the field.  You see, it turns out, that there is a racial component to all of this.  Not only the Browns, but the entire NFL does not want Sanders on the field, because Sanders is a confident black man who cannot be leveraged by the instant riches of the NFL, and all of the league is going to keep him down.  This belief is solid despite every NFL team's locker room being filled with super confident flashy black guys.  The news that Dillon Gabriel was out in the second half would be the vindication that those in the Sanders camp had long awaited.  

While some self doubt might be creeping into their minds this morning after Sanders went 4-16 with 47 yards and an INT, the early talking points appear to be "He didn't get any practice time with the starters, so how could he have succeeded?".  Phew.  See, because here I was seeing the same guy we saw in his last preseason performance that seemed too slow to process the speed of the game, made poor decisions with the ball and was taking sacks that killed the team.  No, it turns out that this lack of practice time is just an extension of the vast conspiracy to deny Sanders his rightful place amongst the NFL elite.  I guess the great news is that since he will get lots of practice moving forward, we are going to see the answer to the long running Browns QB problem that they had in the building all along but refused to play just to keep their long running racist beliefs in check.  Got it?

If I can be frank, an NFL team would start John Wayne Gacy at QB if they thought he could help them win.  While I will agree the Browns often engage in self destructive behavior, it's generally not "willing self destructive behavior".  The Browns try as hard as they can to win.  They are just totally incompetent.  Let's remember, the Browns brought in a known sex deviant to play QB at $250M guaranteed.  Do you think they have a problem with Sanders because he makes his own t-shirt line and is a little cocky?  If Hitler could read a defense and throw a long out route, he'd be starting next Sunday for the Browns (or any other NFL team for that matter).  The NFL is the most amoral sports league on the planet.  There have been an army of cocky dudes with money coming out of college before, during and after Sanders.  The Shield has no problem employing these guys, sucking whatever they can out of them to chase wins and then tossing them aside like a crushed paper cup.  

While I am in no way a fan of Dillon Gabriel, it sure looks like Dillon Gabriel might be more prepared to play an NFL game than Sanders.  As of this morning, neither Gabriel or Sanders is The Answer.  Let's be honest, if Kenny Pickett was on the Browns roster right now, and they absolutely needed to win a game for everyone to keep their jobs, Pickett is the starter.  And he sucks.  He sucks bad.  The Cleveland Browns traded Joe Flacco because they knew they needed to draft a QB next year at the top of the draft, and to do so they needed to lose games.  They needed to lose lots and lots of games.  You can start Gabriel.  You can start Sanders.  It really doesn't matter.  The Browns can lose with either of them, and that's what they are going to do.

It is evident that Dillon Gabriel is not an NFL starter.  It is not yet evident that Sanders isn't an NFL starter.  The Browns are about to play Raiders/Niners/Titans, so the schedule is as easy as it is going to get.  What the hell.  Toss the kid in there and see how he does.  There have been a lot of coaches saying things along the lines of "He has talent but he's not ready to play in the NFL", and that sure looked to be right on target in the second half.  Sanders has more upside than Gabriel, but this is going to be a high variance ride next Sunday versus the Raiders.  I'm looking for a couple of INTs, maybe a pick 6, a lot of "where the fuck was he throwing?", and a few "damn, that was a good pass".  The one thing is that I feel bad for is the conspiracy people that are absolutely convinced that Sanders has been some sort of victim.  When you lose the life raft of "that Sanders kid is going to be great when he plays", what hope do you have left to cling to as a Browns fan when he inevitably crashes to earth?  

I can't even turn on sports talk this week.  It's going to be brutal.  An army of apologists, the same ones that won't cut Gabriel a break, will cling to anything in their belief that the entire NFL didn't draft a starting QB just to stick it to Sanders.  "It's not his fault!  He didn't have practice time!  He doesn't have weapons on offense!  If Shedeur had the same weapons as Drake Maye or Bo Nix or Pennix or... or..."  Shhhhhh.  Stop that.  You'll drive yourself crazy.  If his name was Shedeur Anderson, you wouldn't be this worked up.  If he wasn't Deion's kid, he'd be just another 5th round pick getting killed in a Browns uniform.  Keep your perspective.  Think of Sanders as "Fun Bailey Zappe".  Your real false hope for the future is coming soon enough.  The Browns are set to bungle the draft in 6 quick months and ruin some other kid's life. 

Go Browns.