For nearly 30 years, Mary Kay Cabot has been a familiar presence on the Cleveland Browns beat, filing injury reports, player updates, and gameday standups from Berea.
Cabot, like many reporters, knows how to push boundaries in press conferences. She’s known for asking emotionally or strategically loaded questions, many of which athletes are trained not to answer.
And in Shedeur Sanders, she’s run into arguably the most media-savvy rookie the NFL has seen in years. The son of football legend and Colorado head coach Deion Sanders, Shedeur has spent years in the national spotlight.
Following Tuesday’s practice, Cabot attempted to pivot the conversation toward Deion Sanders’ ongoing health challenges, recently mentioned by Deion himself on a podcast, but Shedeur wasn’t biting.
“Yeah I don’t know what’s going on. So I’m not here to talk about Pops and them. I’m here to be the Quarterback of the Cleveland Browns,” Shedeur said plainly when asked.
Undeterred, Cabot tried again: “But do you kinda have to let your feet be where they are? I’m sure that would be a worry to you if you let yourself think about it?” Yet, Shedeur didn’t waver.
“I’m focused on learning this playbook and everything I need to do to be the most successful quarterback I could be,” Shedeur added. “And be the best teammate I can be. Outside of that, I don’t really have any thoughts on anything outside this game.”
Shedeur’s discipline proves media-ready doesn’t mean media-driven
The interaction made crystal clear that Sanders didn’t come to Cleveland to be the mouthpiece of the Sanders family narrative.
He’s here to compete in a quarterback room, absorb the Browns playbook, and earn the respect of the locker room. Whatever is happening in Boulder with his father, he’s not letting that define his role in Berea.
“Good answer,” a user wrote on X. “But the crazy part is he can’t even speak about his family for fear of being targeted.
“Anyone could have answered it, but he’s so scrutinized that he has to act like he doesn’t even care about his family to look as focused as a regular player.”
There was no scenario in which Cabot was going to “break” news to Shedeur about his father’s condition.
There was no chance Shedeur hadn’t anticipated that line of questioning and under no circumstances was he going to turn his personal family situation into a distraction for the Cleveland Browns or its quarterback competition.
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