The endless stream of excuses surrounding Shedeur Sanders briefly subsided for the summer but has now returned in full force.
When he fell to the fifth round in April’s draft, his fanbase blamed a coordinated attack to humble the Colorado product, rather than acknowledging his likely self-sabotage stemming from inadequate X’s and O’s knowledge and a lack of awareness off the field.
Shedeur started and remains at the bottom of the Cleveland Browns’ quarterback pecking order, as he continues to struggle to earn reps with the starting offense in practice.
Despite the organization yearning for a superstar signal-caller, some still suggest the Browns are sabotaging Shedeur and stunting his development.
In his recent piece for Andscape, journalist Justin Tinsley tried to cite owner Jimmy Haslam’s recent comments about not deciding to pick Shedeur himself to paint a narrative of an already broken union.
“Yet, Haslam’s passive-aggressive comments about Sanders’ place on the roster are telling,” Tinsley wrote. “Haslam didn’t say that because he didn’t think Sanders was going to be available in the fifth round. He said that because he never wanted him there to begin with.”
It’s easy to write a column bashing the Browns for their lack of success at the sport’s most pivotal position. It’s just appalling that they’ve yet to find a solution.
But Haslam is obsessed with star power. It’s unfathomable to suggest he wouldn’t want someone of Shedeur’s status to be his team’s savior.
This type of coverage is to lay the groundwork for if Shedeur fails to ascend up the depth chart, Haslam and the infrastructure of his club can assume all the blame.
Fifth-round picks rarely work out, and Shedeur had a better chance of flaming out of the league before his first contract ends than even sniffing the Pro Bowl, regardless of which squad picked him.
