Shedeur Sanders chose his words wisely, which to his credit was probably a wise move.
He hasn’t officially been named the Cleveland Browns starting quarterback for Week 9, at least not publicly. With starter Deshaun Watson now working his way through the NFL’s five-step concussion protocol, there’s a chance Wednesday’s media availability, and all the hoopla surrounding it, could be a moot point by Sunday.
So as reporters fired questions his way prior to Wednesday’s practice, Sanders was respectful but also as measured as we’ve seen him behind a podium as a member of the Browns.
Several Browns reporters' questions earned short or quippy responses from Shedeur Sanders
The start of Sanders’ presser set the tone for what would be a quick-paced session. He respectfully made it clear that he wasn’t going to speak on things outside of his control.
Here were the initial exchanges, with the reporters’ questions paraphrased for clarity:
Reporter: When did you first get the news that you might possibly be in line to start?
Sanders: “I’d say about the same time you all got the news.”
Reporter: So how are you going about the week?
Sanders: "The same way that I’ve been preparing every week. No different.”
Interestingly, the first point Sanders expounded on was a personal message he wanted to deliver to GM Andrew Berry and Browns leadership:
“Well, first I definitely want to thank just the whole coaching staff, Andrew Berry, and the whole organization for giving me another chance to be here for this year, this season, and everything,” Sanders said. “Last year I was able to see what I needed to see, feel different things during the games, and understand what I needed to get better at. So going into this offseason we worked on that, and training camp, of course. … Overall I’m just excited for this opportunity.”
From there, there were some mildly awkward exchanges, including one on how Sanders fits the offensive system.
“We’re in, like, [Week 9] and we talking about the offensive system fitting me?” Sanders said. “We could have figured that out in training camp.”
He later got a question he didn’t love on his decision to hire an agent this year.
“What’s that have to do with this game?” he said. “I’m focused on this game. Everything else really doesn’t matter at this point.”
Browns beat reporter Mary Kay Cabot then asked Sanders something more game specific, about what he’s seen from the Saints defense on tape so far. That’s a rinse-and-repeat question that every quarterback gets during a Wednesday presser.
Sanders’ response to that one — given with a big smile — was kind of an all-timer.
“When I smile, that means… something,” he said, somewhat mysteriously. “I’m maturing, you know what I’m saying? I’m maturing. I mean, I could have gave that a decent answer but now I’m just going to smile when it’s just like, some question, you know?”
Shedeur Sanders isn't getting ahead of himself with potential Browns start looming
Something seemed a tad off, and it could have simply been that Sanders hasn’t spoken behind a podium since August and wasn’t excited to answer a bunch of hypothetical questions. He was named the first-team quarterback for Wednesday’s practice. He hasn’t yet been named the starter for Sunday’s game at New Orleans.
Head coach Todd Monken did say, however, that it’s harder for a quarterback to be fully ready to go without taking the full allotment of reps in a given week.
“We’ll let it play out,” Monken said. “Shedeur, he’ll take the reps today with the 1s.”
Ultimately, Sanders’ message through the media was a simple one: He feels comfortable whenever he has the ball in his hand, and if he’s called upon to start on Sunday, he’ll be thankful for another opportunity to play quarterback for the Browns.
“Just my job,” he said of potentially helping what has been a struggling offense. “I don’t think it’s been bad. How many wins we got? It can’t be that bad. So I don’t want to just come in here and just try to discredit what Deshaun’s done. That don’t make me feel good as a person. I think it’s just me doing my job, not doing too much, just doing what I gotta do.”
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