Shedeur Sanders isn’t particularly used to the spot he currently occupies on the Cleveland Browns‘ depth chart.
In college at both Jackson State and then Colorado, Sanders was the man. He was QB1. He was the offensive leader.
But with the Browns, after a rookie season that included Sanders everywhere between QB4 and QB1 on the Cleveland depth chart, he’s back in a spot that isn’t the starter’s role.
Sanders, now more familiar with standing on the sideline than he was a year ago at this time, is yet again enduring what it’s like to watch rather than play.
And what he got to watch on Sunday? Not pretty.
Deshaun Watson struggled again for Cleveland, as he has done for essentially his entire tenure with the Browns.
It already began to raise questions about how long the Browns will deal with Watson as the starter before turning to Sanders.
For now, though, Shedeur remains in limbo. He knows he likely will start at some point this season. But when?
Shedeur Sanders Just Waiting
All Sanders can do right now is wait.
Watson was chosen as the starter by new head coach Todd Monken, who apparently was willing to stake his offensive mind reputation on a guy who hasn’t looked sharp in the NFL since before Sanders was even in college.
In the preseason, it wasn’t particularly pretty, and although Watson salvaged his stats with a late long touchdown pass to Denzel Boston against the Jaguars backups on Sunday, it still isn’t pretty now. The Browns were down 34-3 before Watson’s meaningless TD.
The tough part for Monken is that he can’t really go halfway here. Given who Sanders is and the following he has, if the Browns put Sanders on in relief during a game, and he played well, and Cleveland still went back to Watson the next week, it’d have a lot of people riled up.
Monken needs to have conviction whenever he turns to Sanders this season. Until then, patience will have to be a virtue for Shedeur.
An Ironic Hug
After the Jaguars finished off their 34-10 thrashing of the Browns, Travis Hunter met Shedeur at midfield for a hug and a chat.
Hunter played about half the defensive snaps at cornerback but only four offensive snaps at wide receiver. He’s a long way from being a two-way force in the NFL in the way he had been one to win the Heisman Trophy at Colorado.
Neither Sanders nor Hunter is where they want to be in the NFL yet. There’s still time for both to get there.
But for now, there’s work to be done to remind the football world of just how good they can be.
Colorado Legend Shedeur Sanders in Limbo With Browns