Is there room in the transfer portal for Kenny Pickett and Dillon Gabriel?
Because the Cleveland Browns could be in the market for a new QB4 awfully soon. The old one’s about to get promoted.
No, Shedeur Sanders wasn’t perfect in his NFL preseason debut on Friday night at Carolina.
The biggest story of NFL Draft weekend — why did he fall so far? — is now the biggest story of the NFL preseason.
The former CU Buffs quarterback sure as heck didn’t look like a fifth-round pick, did he?
In fact, after a slow start, the football wonks on the Grading The Week staff thought Son of Prime looked like he belonged.
Yes, Sanders staggered early, with three completions over his first seven attempts. Then he found his groove, completing eight of his next 11 throws. And 11 of his next 16.
The more snaps Sanders got, the more comfortable he seemed with the speed of the game, the speed of the defense — the whole kit and kaboodle. Shedeur’s final stat line: 14 completions on 23 attempts for 138 yards and two touchdowns.
Not bad. Not bad at all. Especially given the context.
Shedeur’s NFL preseason debut — A-
The ex-Buff reportedly had taken fewer first-team snaps than his peers. He found himself buried on the depth chart for much of the last two weeks, making the start largely because Pickett and Gabriel are battling hamstring issues.
Yet when Cleveland coach Kevin Stefanski gave No. 12 the ball, he ran with it. Sanders was being tested against a Moment, with a capital “M.” And if we’ve learned anything about Shedeur over the last 30 months or so, it’s that those are the tests he relishes. The bigger the stage, the better.
If the Browns set Shedeur up to fail, in true Browns fashion, they just failed mightily at that, too.
Cleveland doesn’t just have a social media star on their hands. They’ve got a good, young NFL quarterback with the wind at his back.
They’ve got a player who came in as a star, had to work his way up from the bottom, and now has game film — along with a half-dozen highlight throws — to elevate the discourse.
In typical Shedeur fashion, there were no interceptions, but plenty of nits to pick.
Plus side? The stuff we’d already gotten used to in Boulder. He hung in the pocket, even when it collapsed around him. He got the ball out, even while getting popped. If a blitzer or free defender came in hot, he slid away from the pressure and bought himself more time. The game rarely looked too fast. The Moment never looked too big.
There were plenty of teachable things, too. A laser with 6:36 to go until halftime should’ve been picked off. Sanders backpedaled … and backpedaled … and backpedaled … and backpedaled … when he should’ve thrown the ball away and just eaten the down. The stuff that drove some NFL scouts and coaches nuts? Yeah, it’s still there. Old habits. Hard to break.
But the good far outweighed the bad. Sanders got the country’s attention — including proud Cleveland native LeBron James. And no matter how much Stefanski and the Browns want to spin it otherwise, they’ve got a QB competition on their hands. This story won’t go away quietly.
If Friday was any indication, neither will Shedeur.
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