Many professional athletes struggle in front of a microphone or at a press conference. Cleveland Browns quarterback Shedeur Sanders has never quite gotten into any type of rhythm or rapport with being asked questions by the local media.
RELATED: CAN SHEDEUR LEAD THE BROWNS TO A WIN?
Now that Sanders has been named the starting quarterback against the New Orleans Saints, the focus has shifted to him. Recently, at a post-practice press conference, Mary Kay Cabot of cleveland.com asked him this:
Q: Have
you had a chance to study the Saints’ defense yet?
Sanders answered with this:
“Yeah, I seen a lot. When I smile, you know that means – something. I’m maturing, I’m maturing. I could have gave that a decent answer, but now I’m just going to smile whenever it’s just like some questions.”
What? We know that Sanders doesn’t open up to many folks, and rarely does he answer the question the way it was asked. Often, he took questions from Browns reporters, and his answers came out like word pretzels. This question was aimed at what Sanders is seeing with the New Orleans defense and how he believes the offense should attack this group.
“I seen a lot?” His answer didn’t indicate that he had any idea of what to expect. Does he even watch film? Sanders didn’t have to give specifics on how the Browns’ offense will work around their defense, but he could have at least told us what to expect from the run defense, the main characters of their pass rush, how well their linebackers move, or the fact that their defensive backfield has a familiar face in M.J. Emerson.
Players are contractually obligated to talk to the media. Quarterbacks are central to coverage of a game and what they have to say. Fans want to know what the guy who runs the offense has to say about why they won or lost. For example, New Orleans QB Tyler Shough was asked a similar question and had this response:
Cabot was later a guest on “The Ken Carman Show.” They wanted to know about the presser. She stated:
“I asked the question that seems to have gone viral with the answer. I did not want to assume that (Sanders) had done extensive film study on the Saints. Plenty of guys show up on Wednesday and tell us that the deep film study hasn’t taken place yet. We don’t know their process. I just said, ‘if you had a chance to study the Saints.’ It was just a way to get into the question. That should be anything other than what that is.”
But Sanders’ answer was just odd. We all seen the QB have fun at times, but this answer was just… weird. As the starting quarterback, should he be more professional than “I’m just going to smile whenever it’s just like some questions”?
Anthony Lima, the co-host on the Carman Show, stated:
“Why can’t Sanders seem to muster up the professionalism to do the media part of the QB1’s job. The station played some other ‘normal’ quarterback press conferences to compare with Sanders. (We) played at least six other quarterbacks today and they all sounded like quarterbacks. Shedeur sounded like a middle school football player.”
Sanders just came across in the press conference as a guy who would rather be anywhere else. Why does he act surly with the media?
Cabot explained:
“Sometimes guys get off on the wrong foot with the media for whatever reason, right? Baker Mayfield got off on the wrong foot with the media, and then it’s hard to repair the damage. I don’t want to be a distraction to Shedeur or anyone else heading into this football game. That needs to be dialed back. If I were the Browns, I would be making sure that the toothpaste goes back in the tube and everybody surrounding Shedeur, the team, whatever, just brings the temperature down on this because it shouldn’t be that big of a deal.”
We all know that there are two kinds of Sanders fans: Those who believe he still needs more development, and those who trust that he could become the greatest quarterback ever and is a superstar sitting on the bench.
Quarterbacks represent the team. Quarterbacks represent their city.
When Sanders gets up and states, “I’m maturing,” does he mean that he is about to run Cleveland’s offense and is still growing up?
This Sunday, every Browns fan will become a Shedeur Sanders fan. All of us want him to do great things and show what he can actually do during four quarters of an NFL game. We want him to ball out to the tune of 400 passing yards, three passing TDs, and a rushing TD, plus a win. What Cleveland fans don’t want at this juncture is for Sanders to stand at a microphone and act as he has never been there before.
You have to eliminate anything that gets in the way of winning. What Sanders could be saying is that he is preparing to play good football in his first start of the season.
Cabot agreed:
“I know that he was coached up before he walked up to that microphone. I know he knew that he was going to get that question about the Saints defense. Just say a few things about the Saints defense, even in a generic sense, and then we all walk away. Prepare for the football game, and we all continue on with our coverage and whatnot. So, it turned into something it didn’t need to turn into. Not everyone comes into the NFL with the same level of dealing with the media or knowing exactly how some things are going to play out or turn out. So, as he goes along, maybe things will change a little bit. I don’t know. I would think that it would take some thoughtful, open-minded conversation between some people. We’ll see if that would ever happen.”
The supporting cast of Cleveland’s offense has improved tremendously this year with the new weapons that have been brought in. So, that is a huge plus for Sanders over last year’s roster.
It will be interesting to see how this game goes against New Orleans. If Sanders plays lights out, then the next conversation will be on who the starting quarterback for the Browns should be going forward.
Look at the Arizona Cardinals. They benched starter Jacoby Brissett in the second half last weekend, and his backup, Gardner Minshew, led a comeback at the end of regulation to tie the game, then orchestrated the game-winning drive in overtime in a game that the Cardinals were dominated in for most of the contest. Two days later, Brissett was traded.
What happens on the field is the most important thing; Sanders and the Cleveland media are a story for how it has gone so far, but not the most important story.
