The facts of what, exactly, happened last week ahead of the first Cleveland Browns start of the NFL season for quarterback Shedeur Sanders are simple. But how those facts are interpreted will go a long way toward deciphering how one feels about Sanders and his future with the team.
The crux of the matter is that coach Todd Monken, in relaying a story about setting up his play sheet for last week, revealed to CBS sideline reporter AJ Ross that he asked Sanders for input. Sanders then began to reel off some plays he’d like to run, but with one major problem: They were not in the playbook. Ross noted that Monken was laughing as he relayed the story, but he apparently told Sanders, “No, no, plays we like, that we already have in our system, what do you like?”
As Jared Mueller of the Browns SB Nation site noted, “Did I hear that correctly? ‘Shedeur was suggesting plays we didn’t have in our playbook.’ WTF.”
Browns’ Todd Monken Sought Play Suggestions
There was not a lot of controversy around the subject, though, especially because Sanders put up 297 yards passing and nearly led the Browns to an overtime win in New Orleans, before losing, 23-22. But then Fox Sports’ Colin Cowherd picked up on it and amplified it–the notion that Sanders, having competed for the No. 1 job all summer and having practiced here through the first two months of the season with the team, does not know the playbook is a bad look.
Tying that into the stories that came out after the 2025 NFL draft, in which Sanders dropped to the fifth round, Cowherd teed off on Sanders.
“Stories leaked out after about his lack of self-awareness and just juvenile, immature behavior and it looks like they were right …” Cowherd said, citing Sanders’ speeding tickets and the fact that he “butchered” pre-draft interviews. “That is nuts. There is a reason every team including Cleveland passed four and five times. If one time is a coincidence and two is a pattern, what’s 19? The truth. He doesn’t seem like a bad kid, but he is unserious.”
Hoping Shedeur Sanders Report ‘Is Not True’
Now, the story of Monken and Sanders and the play sheet–which Monken was laughing about–has boomeranged back to the Browns media, most of whom either did not hear or did not make a big deal of the original Ross report on the broadcast (reporters at the game don’t hear the broadcast, of course). Presumably, it will become a thing this week.
On 92.3 The Fan in Cleveland, veteran host Ken Carman sounded physically pained by the report.
“I guess I have to give up on Shedeur here if this is, in fact, true,” Carman said. “I hope it is not. I really hope it is not. … If you’re just making up plays that you want to run, I’m done. I’m done. I hope it’s not true. I pray to God it’s not true.”
Monken will meet with the media on Wednesday. This is sure to be a topic–one he will surely downplay, but a topic nonetheless.
Browns Shedeur Sanders Playbook Controversy Emerges After Loss