{"id":51237,"date":"2025-08-01T00:05:09","date_gmt":"2025-08-01T00:05:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/51237\/"},"modified":"2025-08-01T00:05:09","modified_gmt":"2025-08-01T00:05:09","slug":"shedeur-sanders-has-a-cleveland-browns-problem-andscape","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/51237\/","title":{"rendered":"Shedeur Sanders has a Cleveland Browns problem \u2014 Andscape"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Cleveland Browns don\u2019t have a Shedeur Sanders<\/a> problem. Shedeur Sanders, much like any other quarterback drafted or signed to the franchise since it returned to the league in 1999, has a Cleveland Browns problem.<\/p>\n

Speaking to the media earlier this week, Browns owner Jimmy Haslam revealed that the franchise\u2019s high-profile, fifth-round selection of the former Colorado and Jackson State quarterback wasn\u2019t his choice.<\/p>\n

\u201cListen. We have [a] good process. If you\u2019d have told me Friday night [Day 2 of the draft] driving home, y\u2019all are going to pick Shedeur, I would have said, \u2018That\u2019s not happening,\u2019 \u201d said<\/a> Haslam, who with his wife Dee has owned the Browns since 2012. \u201cBut we had a conversation early that morning, and we had a conversation later that day. At the end of the day, that\u2019s [Browns general manager] Andrew Berry\u2019s call. Andrew made the call to pick Shedeur.\u201d<\/p>\n

Truth serum has been Haslam\u2019s calling card<\/a> for most of 2025. In March, Haslam admitted<\/a> quarterback Deshaun Watson\u2019s albatross $230 million fully guaranteed contract was a \u201cbig swing and miss.\u201d When asked what he\u2019s learned in his 13 years of owning the team, Haslam\u2019s weapon of choice was self-deprecatory humor.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019d think it doesn\u2019t look like much,\u201d he yucked.<\/p>\n

Yet, Haslam\u2019s passive-aggressive comments about Sanders\u2019 place on the roster are telling. Haslam didn\u2019t say that because he didn\u2019t think Sanders was going to be available in the fifth round. He said that because he never wanted him there to begin with.<\/p>\n

Sanders hasn\u2019t taken his first official snap as a professional, and his career has already had twists and turns. From the combine<\/a> to the draft<\/a>, everyone has had an opinion about Shedeur Sanders:<\/p>\n

\u2013That his attitude while meeting with teams was part of the reason for his historical slide in April\u2019s draft, making national headlines to the point that the White House addressed the matter<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u2013That this was all part of a league-wide statement to his father, Deion Sanders, all but saying their last name didn\u2019t wield the power to tell team owners when and where to draft his son. <\/p>\n

\u2013Or that maybe Shedeur Sanders wasn\u2019t nearly as talented as his college highlights and eye-popping statistics suggested.<\/p>\n

For Shedeur\u2019s part, he has handled the criticism in stride. He\u2019s ingratiated<\/a> himself within the Cleveland community<\/a>, and he appears to be taking the uphill battle as part of life in the big leagues, telling reporters earlier this week<\/a> that he\u2019s grateful for the opportunity to be on a roster. His feelings weren\u2019t hurt after being fourth on the quarterback depth chart because, in Sanders\u2019 words, \u201cI know who I am as a person.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"Cleveland Browns quarterback Shedeur Sanders (left) and owner Jimmy Haslam (right) watch a play during minicamp at CrossCountry Mortgage Campus on June 10. <\/p>\n

Ken Blaze-Imagn Images<\/p>\n

Shedeur Sanders\u2019 confidence is hereditary. As training camp gives way to actual games, the same confidence that has, in one way or another, been weaponized against him is, in fact, his most useful mental and emotional tool. Sanders clocks into work each day knowing that many co-workers and supervisors would\u2019ve much rather avoided the conversation that comes with him on the roster. Sanders isn\u2019t the first nor last player to enter his first training camp with a chip on his shoulder. But in his case, the chip feels like an entire sack of potatoes. Theoretically speaking, too, there\u2019s this: If Haslam felt comfortable throwing his own general manager under the bus in public, it\u2019s no telling what his most private talks about Sanders sound like. <\/p>\n

The NFL, much like any other business in America, operates heavily on networking. Talent is but one of many determining factors; so is the infrastructure in place. There\u2019s no telling how many careers have been derailed or given life based on just how much an owner or general manager likes or dislikes a player. Shedeur Sanders is the latest character in a power struggle that has always existed in America\u2019s most popular and lucrative sports league: the billionaire brokers who sign the checks, the players who make said checks possible, and the razor-thin difference between success and cautionary tale. <\/p>\n

Sanders\u2019 arm strength has come into question, and he often held on to the ball too long in college, making him the most sacked quarterback in the country<\/a> in 2023 and 2024. (Meanwhile, the Browns gave up the second-most sacks in the NFL in 2024.) Suffice to say, Sanders is far from a perfect prospect at the position, though his strengths (accuracy, toughness and leadership) are hard to ignore, too.<\/p>\n

But here\u2019s the uncomfortable truth Haslam didn\u2019t address because it\u2019s the worst-kept secret in football: The Cleveland Browns \u2014 once dubbed a \u201cfactory of sadness<\/a>\u201d by their own fans \u2014 are far more untrustworthy as an organization that can develop quarterbacks than Shedeur Sanders is as a quarterback who needs developing.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Since 1999<\/a> (three years before Shedeur Sanders was even born), the Browns have cycled through 40 different starting quarterbacks. Only three times has a quarterback started an entire season \u2014 Tim Couch in 2001 and Baker Mayfield in 2019 and 2020. And, since 1999<\/a>, the team is 141-278-1. The Browns\u2019 current quarterback room could be its own TED Talk in the diversity no fanbase would feel comfortable making hotel reservations for the Super Bowl in Santa Clara, California in February<\/a> for: two rookies in Sanders and Dillon Gabriel; a journeyman, at best, in Kenny Pickett; one recovering from a torn Achilles (and a irreparable public image<\/a>) in Watson<\/a>, and a 40-year-old Joe Flacco.<\/p>\n

Shedeur Sanders\u2019 NFL draft slide wasn\u2019t because of racismRead now<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201c[Haslam\u2019s comments] were a testament to what the Browns have been: very inconsistent, especially at the quarterback position,\u201d said Cleveland native and lifelong Browns fan Tremayne Thomas<\/a>. \u201cI want Shedeur to get a fair shot to play because at this point, we don\u2019t have a lot to lose at the quarterback position. Shedeur was rated higher than [Dillon] Gabriel, and I think he\u2019s better than him overall, but unfortunately, I don\u2019t think Haslam believes in him. I don\u2019t expect too much out of this season. That\u2019s probably gonna end up being the end of Berry and\/or [head coach Kevin] Stefanski. So where does that leave Shedeur if Berry isn\u2019t here \u2014 the guy that drafted him. I just hope he gets a chance. I\u2019m rooting for him.\u201d<\/p>\n

Whether this is all a result of Deion Sanders\u2019 standing around the league<\/a> and the larger football culture in America is subjective. What\u2019s objective, however, is Shedeur Sanders\u2019 desire to go at this alone. He recently told his Hall of Fame father not to attend Browns\u2019 practice.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was like, \u2018Dad, I may get three, four reps in practice. I don\u2019t want you seeing that. No, I\u2019m not where I want to be. Let me get where I want to be. \u2026\u2019 He ain\u2019t mad. He ain\u2019t bitter,\u201d Deion Sanders said in an interview<\/a> with close friend and former Dallas Cowboys teammate Michael Irvin. \u201cHe\u2019s like, \u2018I got work to do, but I\u2019m going to put in this work. One thing, they\u2019re going to have to let me play. \u2026 When preseason comes, watch me work.\u2019 \u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"Cleveland Browns quarterback Shedeur Sanders throws a pass in training camp at CrossCountry Mortgage Campus on July 28. <\/p>\n

Ken Blaze-Imagn Images<\/p>\n

Shedeur Sanders\u2019 proving ground<\/a> begins Aug. 8 in the Browns\u2019 first preseason game at Carolina. He figures to have two more opportunities to impress in an Aug. 16 game at Philadelphia and the preseason finale at home versus the Los Angeles Rams on Aug. 23. In a matter of weeks, Sanders could win over the Cleveland front office that was divided in drafting him, or he could be a free agent searching for another opportunity in another city before the start of the season.<\/p>\n

The adage \u201cbeggars can\u2019t be choosers\u201d wasn\u2019t said initially with the Cleveland Browns in mind, but it certainly applies. In an AFC North division with top-tier quarterbacks in Lamar Jackson<\/a> and Joe Burrow \u2014 and the Pittsburgh Steelers thinking Super Bowl<\/a> with Aaron Rodgers \u2014 there\u2019s no team or fanbase more desperate for long-term stability at the game\u2019s most coveted position than the Browns. Yet Cleveland is quarterback purgatory, and this is where Shedeur Sanders hopes to find the next chapter of his football life. To make matters worse, there seems to be people within that organization who are quietly, if not actively, rooting for his downfall.<\/p>\n

This is where the Dawg Pound stands on the eve of the Browns\u2019 2025 season: Sanders is a quarterback with much to prove, but the Browns are a franchise that has repeatedly proven itself, at best, unlucky and, at worst, systemically incapable of advancing young men at the position.<\/p>\n

Haslam may feel otherwise, but it sounds like the quarterback \u2014 not him \u2014 got the short end of the stick.<\/p>\n

Justin Tinsley is a senior culture writer for Andscape. He firmly believes \u201cCash Money Records takin\u2019 ova for da \u201999 and da 2000\u201d is the single most impactful statement of his generation.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t