All those practice reps seemingly are paying off for Shedeur Sanders.
The polarizing Browns quarterback is impressing team staffers and receiving strong reviews for his progress while waiting to make his NFL debut, according to Cleveland.com’s Mark Kay Cabot.
Sanders is the team’s No. 2 quarterback behind fellow rookie Dillon Gabriel, who has been mediocre at best through his three starts.
“In practice, Shedeur Sanders has been making a ton of progress,” Cabot said on the “Ultimate Cleveland Sports Show” on Tuesday. “He looks really good. I’ve been saying this over and over again: If you put Shedeur and Dillon Gabriel side by side, or one after the other in a seven-on-seven red zone drill, I think that Shedeur would probably win that drill much of the time, or if you put ’em up against each other in a pockets drills where you’re throwing the ball into the little pockets in the net, I think Shedeur would win that a lot of the time.
“But there are so many other things that you have to do. You have to be able to protect yourself, you have to be able to read the defense, call the play, slide the protections, manage the motions and do all those things. He’s coming up the learning curve very, very quickly and very well on all of that. The reviews I’m hearing from inside the building are really, really good on Shedeur’s progress right now. But I still think they want to give Dillon some time. Now, he’s got to make some points out there, he’s gotta produce and generate some touchdown passes, but, for now, I think the status quo will be maintained.”
That Sanders is impressing coaches with his performance in practice is a notable tidbit since that could go a long way toward determining if he could potentially replace Gabriel this season.
Sanders has always been behind Gabriel in the Browns’ pecking order, even dating back to the draft when Cleveland selected the Oregon star in the third round and the Colorado product in the fifth round.
Gabriel served as Joe Flacco’s backup with Sanders as third string earlier in the season, before Cleveland shifted to Gabriel and then traded Flacco to the Bengals.
That move created a clearer path to playing time for Sanders, although he would have to show the coaches that he deserved the opportunity.
This report indicates that the son of NFL Hall of Famer and Colorado coach Deion Sanders is making the most of his opportunity and not giving the coaches reasons to avoid playing him.
There could come a time when the Browns look for something different considering Gabriel has not wowed since replacing Flacco.
He has completed 61 of 103 passes (59.2 percent) for 527 yards with two touchdowns and zero interceptions across his first three NFL stars.
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Gabriel recorded his first win this past Sunday in a 31-6 triumph over the hapless Dolphins, but he tallied just 116 passing yards on a windy day while the Browns leaned on their defense and run game.
Should the Browns fall out of the playoff race and Sanders continue to impress in practice, it’s not unreasonable to think he gets a chance to run the show.
It’s worth noting that Cabot mentioned how Sanders may be the more impressive quarterback among the two in terms of physical traits, but the mental side of the position — calling the play, reading the defense, making audibles — is where the former Buffaloes star is lacking, for now.
Even with the positive reviews, Cabot doesn’t expect Sanders to be in the mix anytime soon.
Said Cabot: “They’re not gonna give up on (Gabriel) too quickly, and that would probably open up a can of worms for them if they start throwing Shedeur in there, even in spot duty, right now.”
