Shedeur Sanders’ reaction in the locker room, when he mocked reporters asking him about Dillon Gabriel being named the new starter while he remained the team’s third option, appears to still be causing problems for him.
Dan Orlovsky, former NFL quarterback and now part of ESPN’s Get Up team, was particularly critical of the Browns player’s actions.
I actually don’t think there is a time and place to act like that as a quarterback. Everything you do when you’re a quarterback – I don’t care if you’re first, second or third – is a job interview. My question to Shedeur would be: Are you helping yourself in your own building? Did that 30 or 40 seconds help you in your own building when it comes to what they think you can be in the future? And did you help yourself outside of the building? There’s 64 jobs, essentially, at that spot in the NFL. Did that 30 or 40 seconds help your future there or elsewhere?
On Wednesday, Adam Schefter also weighed in on the matter.
Was in response to ESPN analyst Rex Ryan criticizing the rookie QB earlier this week.
What Ryan said on Get Up was that Sanders “should be embarrassed,” adding that he had been told the young quarterback was not putting in enough effort to truly earn a starting role.
Shedeur Sanders is a highly unusual player in the NFL
According to Rex Ryan, a former NFL safety, the entire situation surrounding Sanders is almost unprecedented in the league. He pointed out that there is far more discussion about Sanders, who is only the third-string quarterback in Cleveland, than about the starter taking over now or even the backup who was benched after poor performances in the opening weeks of the year.
Meanwhile, Don Labbe of the Orange and Brown Talk Podcast described Sanders’ behavior as strikingly out of place.
One of the most bizarre things that has happened there when I’ve been in [the Browns’] building. Clearly not mature enough to be a starting quarterback in the NFL.
Such commentary has further fueled the narrative that Sanders has work to do in order to change how he is perceived, both inside and outside the Browns’ locker room. His talent is undeniable, but his approach has drawn scrutiny at nearly every turn.
What Sanders may need to do is focus entirely on training and performance, working so hard and so consistently that the Browns are left with no choice but to utilize his ability.
If he wants to alter the perception that he is not yet mature enough for the position, the solution may not lie in gestures or words, but in proving through effort and results that he belongs on the field.
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