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Dan Orlovsky is hand-waving all the doom narratives surrounding Shedeur Sanders.
The ESPN analyst pushed back against the idea that the Browns are setting up Sanders to fail, as championed by ex-ESPNer Robert Griffin III, especially after Cleveland tapped the fifth-round pick to start its preseason opener Friday despite limited first-team reps.
“Will everybody stop with the Shedeur Sanders is being set up to fail narrative,” Orlovsky said in a video posted to X.
The idea that the Browns are putting Sanders in an unfavorable position picked up steam earlier this week with a tweet from Griffin, who spent the 2016 season with Cleveland.
Griffin made his comments before the Browns announced Sanders, the son of NFL legend Deion Sanders, would start Friday against the Panthers.
“Shedeur Sanders is being set up to fail in Cleveland,” Griffin wrote Monday on X. “But God’s got him showing out even with limited reps.”
Even ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith said Thursday on “First Take” that Sanders “is being set up to fail.”
Orlovsky’s and Smith’s colleague, Louis Riddick, didn’t go as far as Griffin, but noted that the former Colorado quarterback is “ice skating uphill.”
“I’m afraid he’s going to get on the field in preseason games without a lot of practice reps and then they’re going to ask him to perform these heroic tasks in order to prove that he’s worthy of being a starter when he hasn’t had enough reps to really get comfortable,” Riddick said recently on ESPN’s “Get Up.” “That’s the kind of battle he’s dealing with right now.
“We know how that goes. You don’t get enough reps, they play you a whole half of a game, and then coaches are going, ‘Why are you making that mistake? What aren’t you making that check? Why aren’t you doing that technique?’ ‘Well, damn, coach, I was never in there in practice, you never even talked to me during practice but now you expect me to know.’ That’s what they’re going to expect of him, but if anyone can get it done, it’s this kid because he’s been trained the right way. But I am telling you, he’s ice skating uphill, he just is and every time you hear this organization talk, you just get this feeling.”
Orlovsky’s counter focused on the reality of the situation in Cleveland.
Joe Flacco, the 40-year-old who may start the regular-season opener, isn’t going to start the first preseason game.
Kenny Pickett has a hamstring injury.
Fellow rookie quarterback Dillon Gabriel, a third-round pick, is also sidelined.
And veteran Tyler “Snoop” Huntley just arrived to provide a body for practice.
The process of elimination leaves Sanders as the clear option to start.
“So while Shedeur may not have had reps with the ones, what else do you want them to do in Cleveland?” Orlovsky said. “It’s an opportunity for him, it may not be the ideal opportunity, very rarely is it for a fifth-round pick, but it’s an opportunity for him to go out there and do in a game what many have reported he’s done in practice. Stop with the set up to fail narrative.”
How Sanders fares could play a role in the Browns’ quarterback plans.
It’s rare for teams to have four signal callers on their 53-man roster, but ESPN’s NFL insider Adam Schefter reported that Cleveland is “more than likely” to carry all four.
It’s always possible the Browns could trade one of Pickett or Flacco when injuries inevitably arise during the weeks leading up to the regular season, clearing the path for both Sanders and Gabriel.
The Browns host the Bengals in their season opener on Sept. 7.
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