Cleveland Browns quarterback Shedeur Sanders has had a very rough start to his NFL career. He slid all the way to the fifth round of the draft last year and started the season as the QB4 on his team.
However, he did start seven games for the team but failed to solidify his spot as the Browns’ franchise quarterback. Moreover, throughout his rookie season, the media in Cleveland put Sanders and his family in a difficult position, and recently, Leonard Fournette took issue with it.
Leonard Fournette Chastises Browns Media’s Treatment of Shedeur Sanders
Fournette, who won a Super Bowl with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, talked about how the Browns media treated the Sanders family unfairly on the “4th And South w/ Jarvis Landry & Leonard Fournette” podcast.
“Me personally, I feel like since the beginning, the Sheder family has been treated wrong,” Fournette said. “The Sanders… by the media. He [Shedeur] just never had a fair shot, the questions they were asking him, you know, to try to get him to talk about coach Stefanski, you know, and you could tell he’s very well media prepped.”
Last summer, segments of Cleveland media singled out Sanders while Dillon Gabriel, who was selected ahead of him in last year’s draft, received nothing but praise.
Stefanski, headstrong in his belief in operating a run-heavy scheme, listed Sanders deep on the depth chart. It took the departures of Joe Flacco and Kenny Pickett and an injury to Gabriel for Sanders to see the field. To his credit, Sanders never lashed out or took to the media to complain.
Fournette also pointed out that Sanders should never have slipped to the fifth round of the draft last year.
“He should haven’t went that low,” Fournette added. “So, for them to treat him how they’re treating him, it’s just an embarrassment.”
The relationship between the media and the family deteriorated to the point that Shilo, Shedeur’s older brother, recently feuded with veteran Cleveland reporter Mary Kay Cabot.
The Browns hired new head coach Todd Monken this offseason, and Sanders is competing with Deshaun Watson and Gabriel for the starting position.
Now, Watson stands in the way of Sanders becoming the starter once again. Additionally, Watson’s experience and accuracy could give him the edge. Furthermore, Monken, who served as the Baltimore Ravens’ offensive coordinator, wants a quarterback to move the pocket and shift in order to get the receiver open.
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However, Sanders is a classic dropback passer who eschews running with the football. In his rookie season, the Colorado product threw for 1,400 yards, seven touchdowns, and 10 interceptions, while completing just 56.6% of his throws. According to PFSN’s QB Impact Metric, he posted an impact score of 56.7 last season, ranking fourth-worst in the league.
Overall, the media could be the least of the family’s concerns in the lead-up to the season.
