Browns QB Joe Flacco Responds to Shedeur Sanders Starting

Joe Flacco will watch from the sideline in street clothes when Cleveland Browns rookie Shedeur Sanders gets his first taste of NFL action on Friday.

Sanders is set to get the starting nod when the Browns take the field for their preseason opener against the Carolina Panthers. Flacco, Kenny Pickett and rookie Dillon Gabriel will not play, per head coach Kevin Stefanski. Pickett and Gabriel are nursing nagging injuries and the Browns don’t feel like the 40-year-old Flacco needs to see preseason action at this point.

Sanders and newly signed veteran Tyler “Snoop” Huntley will be the quarterbacks on the field.

“It’s Shedeur and Snoop will be the quarterbacks that are playing in this game,” Stefanski said. “Snoop just got off the airplane yesterday, so we will catch him up.”

Flacco expressed that he would have liked to see some action in the first preseason tilt. However, he knows it’ll be a memorable experience for his QB room comrade Sanders.

“Oh, it’ll be interesting. I think we’ll all be sitting there watching and be excited for football to be going real time. And I think he’s probably excited about that too,” Flacco said. “I mean, your first time to go in the NFL, I remember mine. I didn’t get to play until the last two minutes of the game, but it’s something that he’ll remember forever. Most of us have dreamt about this moment since were five, six, seven, eight-years old. So, for him to get a chance to go out there and actually take the field, even though it’s preseason we’re all going to be on the sidelines enjoying it.”

Joe Flacco on Shedeur Sanders Starting: It Will Be Interesting

Flacco has seen a lot over his 17-year career and has been working alongside Sanders for a while now. The Browns selected Sanders in the fifth round of the draft in April, and Flacco has seen him grow during that time.

“I think he’s come in from day one with a pretty good head on his shoulders, pretty good method about how he thinks he should do things,” Flacco said. “And I think we’ve all been in that room together and all picked up little things from each other. So, I think he’s just staying the course and, you know, and continuing to try to grab a thing here.”

There will be many eyes on the game to see Sanders’ debut. But it doesn’t feel too different for Flacco.

“It’s so funny because I don’t really think of it that way,” Flacco said. “We’re just kind of going to work every day and doing our job and we’re in the room together. But yeah, that’ll make it exciting.”

Joe Flacco Not Worried About Browns’ QB Competition

Flacco is listed as QB1 on the depth chart, although the Browns have maintained that it’s an open competition. The former Super Bowl MVP is not sweating the uncertainty.

“I’m not worried one bit, man,” Flacco said. “I’m just out here enjoying it and doing the best I can every single day, trying to show these guys that, man, I can do it. You should have confidence in me. When I talk to my wife at night, maybe she’s not as patient. But listen, I’m having a lot of fun just going out there and slamming it around a practice right now, and I’m doing a good job just kind of keeping my feet where they are, and that’s all I can do right now.”

The Browns have said they want to name a starter sooner rather than later. Week 1 is quickly approaching, with Cleveland set to take on AFC North rival Cincinnati on September 7.