Former Cleveland Browns quarterback Robert Griffin III didn’t mince words when discussing Shedeur Sanders’ situation with the Cleveland Browns.
The Browns selected Sanders in the fifth round in what was the most discussed pick of the draft. Sanders was projected to be a first-round pick but suffered a historic free fall until the Browns decided to end his slide.
Griffin, who played for the Browns during the 2016 season, thinks Sanders is being “set up to fail” in Cleveland.
“It’s horrible,” said Griffin of Sanders’ fit on the Browns. “It’s an absolutely terrible position for a QB to be in. Let’s get real, people. This is the thing nobody wants to talk about. Shedeur Sanders is in a situation where the NFL and the Cleveland Browns have set him up to sink or swim in Year 1. What I really mean by that is, they set him up to fail. Shedeur Sanders is the fourth quarterback on the Cleveland Browns roster.”
Shedeur Sanders, Browns Set for Quarterback Battle
Sanders joins Joe Flacco, Kenny Pickett and Dillon Gabriel in the Browns’ quarterback room. The team has said it’s an open competition for the starting gig, although Sanders faces an uphill battle as a rookie fifth-round pick, which Griffin pointed out.
“Joe Flacco, the de facto starter that everyone with a football brain believes will be their starting quarterback barring injury, is a Super Bowl champion and Super Bowl MVP. Yes, I know he’s 40 years old,” Griffin said. “But they just brought him in this offseason before they drafted Shedeur Sanders.
“The next quarterback, Kenny Pickett. Yes, he’s been on two other teams. But guess what? The Cleveland Browns traded for him this offseason. That gives you two quarterbacks with experience on the roster, that you would think this is the de facto starter and the de facto backup. But not only that, they didn’t just bring in Joe Flacco, the Super Bowl champ and Super Bowl MVP. They didn’t just trade for Kenny Pickett. They also drafted a quarterback in the third round by the name of Dillon Gabriel.”
Browns Didn’t Plan to Draft 2 Quarterbacks
The Browns did not intend to add both Gabriel and Sanders in the draft. But when Sanders tumbled to the fifth round, Browns general manager Andrew Berry made a move.
“We felt like it wasn’t necessarily the plan going into the weekend to select two quarterbacks,” Berry told reporters after the draft. “But as we talk about, we do believe in best player available, we do believe in positional value, and we didn’t necessarily expect him to be available in the fifth round. We love adding competition to every position room and adding him to compete with the guys that are already in there. We felt like that was the appropriate thing to do.”
Sanders isn’t your typical fifth-round pick. He’ll arrive in Cleveland with cameras in tow and added attention, bringing a spotlight to Browns’ rookie minicamp when it kicks off on Friday.
