With the Cleveland Browns falling to 2-7 and the quarterback play being less than ideal, fans are wondering when we will see another quarterback get a shot. Any QB would do, but rookie quarterback Shedeur
Sanders is currently the backup to starter Dillon Gabriel. Despite what the stats say, Gabriel has been mostly ineffective and appears to be going backwards instead of progressing forward.
It doesn’t do any favors that the offense lacks any form of top-level talent, but Gabriel’s mistakes only make things more difficult. It’s bound to happen that Gabriel will likely be benched, even if that is not the current plan, but if he were to be benched, what would you expect if Sanders were to play?
To be blunt, not much.
Is Sanders a talented quarterback? Yes. However, he isn’t someone who is going to elevate an offense. For Sanders to have some form of success, the offense has to elevate him more so.
From what we were told, the reason why he wasn’t named the immediate backup after the team benched Joe Flacco for Dillon Gabriel was due to Sanders not having a grasp of the playbook. We saw some concerns in his second preseason game as well. Going from the offense that he ran in Colorado to the offense in Cleveland was a more daunting task than people want to admit, mostly due to the simplicity of the Buffalo game plan.
However, things have changed, and he has a better understanding of the offense than he did before the season.
Sanders will not raise the ceiling of the offense, but he can make the offense more functional on a down-to-down basis. He can get the ball out quickly, has a good arm, and is athletic enough to extend plays if given the opportunity, and he doesn’t try to escape backward from the pocket. The issue is that he will tend to hold onto the ball too long and will drift far too much while navigating the pocket. His pocket movement will be the focal point as he cannot hold onto the ball against defensive fronts that can generate pressure.
It’s going to be rough for Sanders (as for most rookies), but expecting him to light up the world is unrealistic expectations. The offense won’t look great, but Sanders will provide at least some form of consistency.
