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5 hours ago
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Kevin Stefanski and the Cleveland Browns coaching staff are slow-rolling Colorado Buffaloes football’s Shedeur Sanders’ development this offseason for a deliberate reason:
They don’t want the “Grown QB” to be exposed during the difficult early portion of the team’s schedule.
“The excitement surrounding Browns rookie quarterback Shedeur Sanders is palpable, but there’s a major reason the organization appears in no rush to throw him into the starting lineup – a murderous early-season schedule that would challenge even the most seasoned NFL veterans,” the Orange and Brown Talk Podcast crew, comprised of Cleveland.com’s Mary Kay Cabot, Dan Labbe, Scott Patsko, and Ashley Bastock, wrote.
Many are aware of Cleveland’s deliberate slow-roll. ESPN’s Harry Douglas tabs the Browns’ seventh game of the season against the Miami Dolphins at home as the likeliest NFL debut of the “Grown QB.”
“Game 7, that’s when the Cleveland Browns play the Miami Dolphins. And if Shedeur Sanders goes into training camp and he’s lights out, and he’s playing very well in preseason, there’s gonna have to be conversations that it might be earlier than that. Because what you don’t want to do, if you’re Kevin Stefanski, is have a guy show that he is the guy, but you not play him. Then you’re gonna have some controversy when it comes to your roster and older players who are trying to win right now,” Douglas said on ESPN’s “Get Up.”
Stefanski has been giving Sanders fewer plays to run than Dillon Gabriel, Kenny Pickett, and Joe Flacco, and has not deployed Shedeur against first-team defenders.
Many a quarterback has sputtered under a fraction of the spotlight in their first NFL homes. With the revenue and interest he generates, Sanders needs to be protected as an asset until it’s clear he is ready to either sink or swim in this league.
Stefanski is way ahead of the curve on that.
English (US)