Shedeur Sanders got his first chance to address the elephant in the room, and his take on what has now become a clear imbalance in practice reps between himself and Deshaun Watson was as measured and team-centric as Cleveland Browns fans have come to expect.
“That doesn’t even faze me or get to me,” Sanders said on Wednesday. “I don’t think about that at all. I’m just thankful to be out here, able to practice. Sometimes you got to sit back and reflect on: ‘Why would I feel negative in this situation if last year was a totally different situation?’ So I think about things that I’m thankful for in life and not that I really want, because if you live in that ‘want’ world you’re going to always be searching.”
That response was vintage Sanders. He’s been calculated and thoughtful with just about every media availability since he became the Browns’ starting quarterback midway through the 2025 regular season.
He's also had a few cringeworthy exchanges with Browns reporters, and that continues to be a glaring blind spot early in his professional career.
Sanders was asked about Cleveland’s practice on Saturday, Aug. 8, when head coach Todd Monken confirmed to reporters that it was Sanders’ day to work with the starters, only to switch things up 15 minutes later when the Browns took the field. Watson ended up taking every first-team rep over that two-hour practice, and it was reportedly one of his most impressive days of training camp. Sanders, meanwhile, split work with the second unit that day with third-stringer Dillon Gabriel.
As usual, Sanders defended both his head coach and teammates while redirecting criticism toward the media for covering what was a clear pattern shift from the first 10 days of camp.
“I don’t think with the coaches that we have that you ever wonder,” Sanders said. “I think whatever is said is direct. We were informed and everything the right way, so it was never a miscommunication between us.”
Then came a slight pause — and a not-so-subtle redirect.
“So... I don’t know. I just don’t really appreciate sometimes if things happen and y’all just jump on the coach, like, ‘He’s just trippin’ or something, you know?” Sanders said. “I don’t really like that because it creates just... extra. And I hope y’all are here to want to win and be a team and be a franchise. So, it’s kind of like, we got to slow down. That’s what we want. But if we’re just in here to just make money and get clicks then, you know, we understand that, too. So that’s why I just appreciate the team. I appreciate everybody that we don’t let anything online, or anything really get to us. You know, because we’re in our own cocoon. We’re a team. So anything outside of that don’t really affect us in the building.”
Shedeur Sanders' relationship with the media remains a work in progress
To be clear, Sanders has given Browns fans plenty of reasons to root for him.
He opened Wednesday’s presser, which was his first since early in training camp, by greeting everyone and flashing his infectious smile. He then apologized for what he called “shutting down” during his last media availability, saying he didn’t offer much depth in his responses that day due to “a lot of separation” that came through the line of questioning.
Sanders is obviously still learning how to handle everything that comes with being a franchise-caliber quarterback in the NFL. The majority of the job falls between the white lines and in the locker room, from leadership to command of the huddle and everything in between. But handling the media is a crucial part of the role, and it’s something the second-year pro is clearly still working through.
It’s not the media’s job to be part of the team or help build a winning culture. Most of the reporters in these media scrums don’t write for ClevelandBrowns.com. It’s their job to ask the tough questions and drive the conversation as the main vehicle between the team and the fan base.
With all due respect to Sanders, that Saturday practice marking Watson’s second full day of first-team reps was a major training camp story. No serious reporter is going to watch that practice unfold in Berea and not report on it.
Monken probably got off easy, too. His explanation that following Monday was anything but direct. It probably left fans even more exhausted over a quarterback competition that now seems to be obviously leaning in Watson’s favor, yet continues to be called a “competition.”
Sanders talks often about preserving energy to be the best version of himself on the field. And, again, the bulk of his messaging through the media tends to be team-first and right on target.
But he’s never going to train the media to cover the team a certain way — especially not seasoned Browns beat reporters who have been detailing the franchise’s dysfunction for way too long. That’s just not the reality of the NFL world, and it’s a lesson that Sanders is surprisingly still struggling to grasp here in Year 2.
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