The Cleveland Browns have been criticized for the handling of rookie quarterback Shedeur Sanders.
The Browns selected Sanders and Dillon Gabriel in the 2025 NFL Draft, which was an intriguing decision to make. Gabriel has since taken over as the starter, while Sanders has yet to play this season, despite Gabriel’s struggles.
After another lackluster start from Gabriel, Browns fans called for Sanders to start, but head coach Kevin Stefanski shot it down. Now, Browns insider Tony Grossi believes Cleveland’s handling of Sanders has been ‘mystifying.’
“‘Mystifying’ is the word I would use to describe this whole Sanders year,” Grossi said on ESPN Cleveland. “If Sanders is still not better than what we’ve seen out of Gabriel, how bad must that be? I don’t know. We haven’t seen him since August in the preseason finale. All I know is that Gabriel, by any metric, has gotten progressively worse, which I totally unexpected. I was wrong.”
Stefanski doesn’t seem in a rush to play Sanders, which is a bit surprise, given that Cleveland likely would want to know what they have in him before the 2025 NFL Draft.
Yet, Stefanski is adamant that Gabriel will remain as the starting quarterback after the bye week when Cleveland goes on the road to play the New York Jets.
Browns Coach Not Focused on Sanders
Although many fans have called for Sanders to start, Stefanski isn’t focused on that.
Instead, heading into the bye week, Stefanski said he’s focused on helping Gabriel get ready and help improve the offense.
“Obviously, my focus is where we are right now,” Stefanski said. “That’s not my focus.”
Meanwhile, Stefanski said the blame for the offense isn’t solely on Gabriel. Instead, he believes it’s all 11 games, as well as himself calling the plays, which needs to be better.
“Playing good on offense is about 11 guys on the field and us as coaches doing our job,” Stefanski said. “Obviously young players will learn in each outing that they’re out there. I think Dillon will continue to learn, will continue to get better, but it’s really an entire offensive type of thing where we all need to be better.”
Gabriel threw for 156 yards, two touchdowns, and two interceptions in the loss to the New England Patriots.
Sanders Opens Up On Injury
Sanders was inactive in Week 8 due to a back injury, as Bailey Zappe was the backup.
Stefanski claimed Sanders suffered the injury on Saturday, and a pre-game workout determined he couldn’t play.
“He obviously came in Saturday with his back injury,” Stefanski said. “We were hopeful that he’d be able to move around well enough to suit up on Saturday, excuse me, on Sunday. But, put him through a pre-game warm up, and obviously just didn’t feel like he was ready to play, but he’s getting better every day and I’m hopeful that he’ll continue to improve.”
Sanders, meanwhile, said it wasn’t his decision to sit out and felt like he was healthy to play. The rookie quarterback also guaranteed he’s ‘going to be good’ due to the injury.
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