The circus is coming to Cleveland for a three-day show starting Tuesday.
That’s right, like all NFL teams, the Browns have been holding offseason voluntary organized team activities over the past several weeks, with all practices being no-live-contact sessions that will culminate with a mandatory minicamp, which, in the case of the Browns, will go from Tuesday to Thursday.
And right now, everything you read on social media, hear on digital podcasts or watch on TV networks is all about quarterback Shedeur Sanders.
The son of football superstar personality Deion Sanders has sucked up all the attention surrounding the Browns.
So what about the other quarterbacks on the team — like 17-year vet and one-time Super Bowl MVP Joe Flacco? Or 2022 first-round pick Kenny Pickett? Or rookie Dillon Gabriel, who was drafted in the third round, two rounds before Sanders?
Well, because of all the outside noise, such as media talking heads and an intense fan pressure, it’s not going to be a fair fight. Do I like it for Gabriel? No.
Even when Gabriel signed his rookie deal on Wednesday, it never made headlines or even generated a wire story like it did for Shedeur. It just showed up on X, which stated “Per Spotrac, Gabriel signed a four-year $6,223,338 contract, with a $1,166,063, signing bonus.”
But simply being overlooked is what you get when a team drafts a celebrity QB, with a meddling father who has friends in the media and throughout all levels of football.
It was Deion Sanders who made demands on the NFL, reportedly saying he’d want to coach his son in the pros or that he’d step in if certain teams were planning to pick him.
That’s probably the reason for Shedeur’s precipitous fall in the draft, where the one-time projected first-rounder plummeted all the way to No. 144 after the Browns had already passed on him six times.
Now, though, as longtime Cleveland sportswriter Mary Kay Cabot wrote on Friday, the “Shedeur Sanders hype train is already off the rails.”
For instance, in a 10-minute ESPN segment in late May on the Browns’ QB situation, the focus was all on Shedeur. His image was displayed and segued 20 times in the first five minutes before a picture of Gabriel was flashed. It ended up being 40 images to four. No other Browns QB was pictured.
But Cabot is an actual eyewitness, reporting what she sees and hears during interviews. The veteran of more than 30 years of covering the Browns has provided the most accurate accounts of all.
She wrote, “some in the national media have already either called the quarterback competition in Sanders’ favor or reported that he’s got a bona fide chance to be the opening day starter. … But the four-way quarterback competition among Kenny Pickett, Joe Flacco, Dillon Gabriel and Sanders is nowhere close to being over. In fact, it’s barely begun.”
That’s because none of these OTAs had live contact. There’s no T.J. Watt coming after you or All-Pro Kyle Hamilton patrolling the back end.
The pads will go on when training camp opens for the Browns in late July.
Still, it’s hard to ignore all the hype and praise being heaped on Shedeur, with the internet posting OTA stat tracking showing Shedeur being the most efficient of the four QBs.
However, those stats weren’t apples-to-apples comparisons.
As Cabot wrote: “On Wednesday, Sanders ran with the fourth team again, and was the only one of the four QBs not to get any reps with the first-team offense, or against the first-team defense.
“He also conducted a set of modified 7-on-7s alone on one of the fields, getting extra reps and coaching, while the other three quarterbacks worked on the opposite field.
“He did get his first snaps during an open practice in 11-on-11s on Wednesday, and made the most of them.”
She stated that Sanders is “making tremendous progress in learning the scheme.”
As for Shedeur, to his credit, he’s heretofore not shown a glimpse of entitlement.
He has said the right things, putting his head down and working hard, by all reports.
Maybe, it’s a good thing he’s away from his dad.
He’s also said nice things about the QB room.
“Everybody’s cool,” Sanders told NFL studio host Kay Adams back in May. “Outside the room, people try to pit us against each other, but inside the room, we know we’re one.”
Even Gabriel said last month he enjoys being Sanders’ teammate, being quoted in a team-issued statement, “You know, I love it because of who it is. I think just for us both, you can learn from one another.”
A Sports Illustrated article on June 4 also reported that “Cleveland rookie quarterback Shedeur Sanders and Dillon Gabriel are turning heads at organized team activities (OTAs) in Berea, Ohio and either have the potential to be the Browns’ long term answer at quarterback.”
But there can be only one QB1 and teams rarely keep four on the 53-man roster. And we’ll see what all the QBs are saying when the real camp competition begins in July.
Pickett won’t be giving in to all the attention deficit.
The former first-round pick of the Steelers said in a Sports Illustrated article, “I’m not going there to hang out. I want to go play. I’m excited, been working hard for it, taking it a day at a time.”
The depth chart and roster positioning probably will be between Flacco vs. Pickett and Gabriel vs. Sanders.
I think both Gabriel, because of his draft position, and Sanders, because of his draft value, will make the squad. That leaves Flacco or Pickett as the odd-man out.
Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk has already predicted that Pickett will be traded, allowing it to be a three-man battle.
That’s not counting the most expensive QB on the roster, Deshaun Watson, who’s out for the the season with a second torn Achilles.
Will any of the QBs get a fair shot against Sanders? Probably not.
With his brand and following, Sanders will get a longer rope than most first-round picks and he’ll have the media on his side, justifying every mistake by placing blame elsewhere, like the coaches, or the offensive line, or the lack of weapons, etc.
Fair or not, that’s just the way world works nowadays when the masses take over.
Competition? Certainly. Chaos? Most likely. A circus. Definitely.
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Reach Curtis Murayama at cmurayama@staradvertiser.com.
