Shedeur Sanders has been clearly the fourth quarterback on the Cleveland Browns’ depth chart in training camp. He hasn’t taken a rep with the first-team offense, per reports. He even said he didn’t want his father, Deion Sanders, at camp until he worked his way up.
Sanders needed to catch a few breaks to get the opportunity he needed to impress the coaches, and that fell in his lap.
With Kenny Pickett and Dillon Gabriel dealing with hamstring injuries, and veteran Joe Flacco not needing playing time in the preseason opener, a report from Mary Kay Cabot of Cleveland.com said Sanders is expected to start Cleveland’s preseason opener against the Carolina Panthers on Friday.
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It really doesn’t matter that Sanders will get an opportunity because everyone else around him isn’t available. It’s an opportunity he wasn’t expected to get, and now he has it. What he does with this unlikely chance could be huge for him going forward.
Shedeur Sanders reportedly to get a start
A fourth-string quarterback doesn’t usually get much playing time in practice or preseason games. There could be some playing time late in preseason games — and there’s only three, after the NFL cut the preseason from four a few years ago — but it’s often with teammates who are long shots to ever play in an NFL regular-season game.
Sanders always had an uphill climb because he started training camp low on the depth chart. Flacco has been the presumptive starter most of the offseason. Pickett has more experience and was seemingly next in line before his hamstring injury. Gabriel was drafted two rounds ahead of Sanders, who fell to the fifth round (a round with almost no history of success for NFL quarterbacks), which indicates how the Browns feel about both players at this point in their careers.
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Sanders could never have expected to start any of the Browns’ three preseason games. He needed multiple injuries and a veteran not requiring the reps in an opener to get there. If Sanders starts Friday, as reported, it’s the type of chance most fifth-round rookies don’t get. If he plays well, that could open up more practice time and maybe even a move up the depth chart. It could lead to a chance to play in the regular season if the other quarterbacks ahead of him fail. In the absolute best possible outcome, Sanders does what Russell Wilson did as a rookie back in 2012 and unexpectedly wins the job before Week 1.
It’s not like Sanders doesn’t have talent. There was a reason he was thought of as a potential first-round pick before he fell in the draft. But his situation at the start of training camp wasn’t ideal.
That changed suddenly.
Not an easy spot for Sanders
The opportunity works both ways. In the best-case scenario, Sanders plays well and gets more chances. His legion of supporters will see it as the first step toward him becoming the Browns’ QB1 in the regular season.
But it’s also not an easy situation. Sanders hasn’t taken a ton of reps in practices. He hasn’t taken any snaps in training camp with the starters through Tuesday, Cabot reported. And he’ll be going against the Panthers’ starting defense Friday, as Carolina head coach Dave Canales said he’ll play starters in the game via ESPN’s Daniel Oyefusi. The Panthers’ defense was the worst in the NFL last season and might not be much better this season, but it’s still a starting NFL defense against a rookie quarterback who hasn’t had much practice time, has zero NFL game experience and hasn’t spent a moment with the starters in camp.
If Sanders doesn’t succeed in a difficult spot, it might be a while before he gets another chance this good, though that might depend on the health of the quarterbacks around him. His one big impression before the regular season begins might be a preseason start in which it will be a huge challenge for him to play well.
But the opportunity is what’s most important. When training camp began, it seemed unlikely that Sanders would get enough game action or practice reps to make a significant move up the depth chart. At least there’s a path for that now.
