<\/p>\n
Shedeur Sanders\u00a0is pegged to get all the first-team reps during the\u00a0Cleveland Browns\u00a0practices this week while on the runway to\u00a0his first NFL start.<\/p>\n
Hallelujah. It\u2019s about time the high-profile rookie \u2014 poised to step in at Las Vegas on Sunday as fellow rookie quarterback\u00a0Dillon Gabriel\u00a0recovers from a concussion \u2014 gets practice time with the starters.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m truly excited for that, knowing that I have a piece in the offense and a say-so, and how things fit my eye (to) place the players exactly where they need to be,\u201d Sanders said during a Wednesday press conference. \u201cSeeing how they come in and out of routes, seeing the structure of the O-lineman, seeing a set, just having a feeling. Like, I\u2019m more of a \u2018feel\u2019 type of person. So, that\u2019s how I learn.\u201d<\/p>\n
Well, here\u2019s your chance, kid. This might not go down in history like\u00a0the time in 2001\u00a0when Tom Brady, a sixth-round pick, supplanted an injured Drew Bledsoe and never gave the job back on the way to amassing a collection of Super Bowl rings.<\/p>\n
Yet the opportunity to at least get on the practice field with the starters is significant enough on the learning curve for the fifth-round pick who became\u00a0the biggest storyline\u00a0of the\u00a0NFL draft\u00a0when his projected first-round stock\u00a0plummeted. When Sanders came off the bench after halftime for\u00a0his first regular-season action last Sunday, it was his first time getting any action with the first team since joining the team.<\/p>\n
Sure, Gabriel should have had the lion\u2019s share of first-team practice reps while manning the starting post.<\/p>\n
But zero first-team reps for Sanders?<\/p>\n
For weeks, since\u00a0Joe Flacco was traded\u00a0to the\u00a0Cincinnati Bengals\u00a0in\u00a0Week 6\u00a0and Gabriel was promoted to the lineup, Sanders was one snap away from live action. That\u00a0Browns\u00a0coach Kevin Stefanski didn\u2019t ensure that Sanders got a break from his scout-team duty to take\u00a0a few practice reps with the starters\u00a0struck me as a bit odd, if not coaching malpractice.<\/p>\n
Now Sanders is poised to become the 42nd\u00a0quarterback to start for the Browns since the franchise was rebooted in 1999.<\/p>\n
Maybe a few first-team reps would have helped last weekend, when one-snap-away happened. Sanders played the entire second half and despite\u00a0a disastrous stat line\u00a0\u2014 4-for-16 passing for 47 yards, one interception, zero points and a 13.5 passer rating while absorbing two sacks during a blitz-heavy 28 snaps \u2014 had a shot at the end of a\u00a023-16\u00a0defeat.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s no wonder Sanders, 23, considered \u201cbreaking the barrier\u201d after so many weeks on the sideline as the biggest positive from his debut appearance.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t think a lot of people understand how challenging that is from a rookie going into a game,\u201d he said. \u201cNow, a lot of NFL vets, backup quarterbacks, they\u2019ve been in the league, you feel me? I\u2019m just coming out of college, so it\u2019s a different feeling.\u201d<\/p>\n
Of course, it\u2019s not uncommon for a backup quarterback to not get any first-team practice reps. Yet in a league in which quarterback injuries are seemingly always on the upswing and turn-over-every-stone preparation is thick, the Browns should have had a better break-glass-in-case-of-emergency plan for Sanders. Unlike teams with veterans holding clipboards as backups, the Browns were rolling with Rookie QB1 and Rookie QB2 after trading Flacco.<\/p>\n
\u201cNot to have a meaningful rep since August, I don\u2019t know how any quarterback could feel comfortable or confident to be sharp,\u201d Brian Baldinger, an NFL Network analyst, told USA TODAY Sports on Wednesday.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s one thing if you\u2019re San Francisco and Mac Jones is your backup. You\u2019re trying to get Brock Purdy ready. Well, Mac has started for two different teams in this league. He\u2019s experienced. When your backup has got zero experience, what happens if he\u2019s one play away?\u201d<\/p>\n
After Sunday\u2019s game, Sanders (who completed a Division-1 record 71.8% of his passes during his two seasons at Colorado) mentioned that he wished he had worked with the first-team Browns receivers to get a better grasp of their nuances in running routes.<\/p>\n
\u201cListen, it\u2019s obvious that the more time and the more reps, period, are always better,\u201d Stefanski said on Wednesday, with journeyman\u00a0Bailey Zappe\u00a0in line to back up Sanders against the\u00a0Raiders. \u201cAs quarterbacks, they sit in that room (and) watch a lot of tape together. So, you watch the receivers and sometimes you don\u2019t get the rep, but you see how those guys come out. That\u2019s what you have to do as backups, that Shedeur does, that all of our guys do. When you\u2019re not getting that rep, you just making mental notes to yourself about how guys come out of breaks.\u201d<\/p>\n
Baldinger, a former guard who\u00a0played 11 NFL seasons\u00a0for four teams from 1982-93,\u00a0analyzed Sanders\u2019 final eight plays\u00a0against the Ravens for one of his popular \u201cBaldy\u2019s Breakdowns\u201d segments on X. He was impressed that despite the rough outing, Sanders had the Browns in position to tie the game in the final two minutes before the last-gasp drive fizzled with three consecutive incompletions from the Ravens\u2019 25-yard line.<\/p>\n
Yet he also pointed out how practice reps with the starters might have helped with the timing in connecting with\u00a0Jerry Jeudy, running a curl route, on one incompletion. On the next-to-last incompletion, Sanders, facing a blitz, opted to throw to\u00a0Gage Larvadain\u00a0in the end zone, against\u00a0Chidobe Awuzie\u2019s tight coverage. He opted not to flip a pass to Jeudy running open on an underneath out route that might have moved the chains.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was in Larvadain\u2019s hands,\u201d said Baldinger, mindful that the Browns are tied for third in the NFL with 20 dropped passes. \u201cIt was a perfect throw, and it gets ripped out of his hands in the end zone.\u201d<\/p>\n
The sequence might have provided a valuable lesson for Sanders.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere was a decision there, but anybody could\u2019ve said, \u2018I\u2019m taking a shot here,\u2019\u201d Baldinger said. \u201cHe could have dumped it off to Jeudy and gotten closer. Going back and looking at it, he probably wishes he would have done it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Will the practice reps make a difference? We\u2019ll see.<\/p>\n
One thing for sure: There will be no shortage of scrutiny when the most-hyped quarterback from the NFL draft class finally makes his first NFL start.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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