The real games haven’t even begun yet, but that doesn’t mean critics aren’t finding new ways to target the Cleveland Browns. Though the latest member of the team to catch some heat is Shedeur Sanders, the team’s backup QB.
This time, Sanders isn’t even under fire for what he did on the football field; rather, it’s what he did off the field.
T.J. Ward Comes to Shedeur Sanders’ Defense
Recently, Sanders was asked to do an interview with Aditi Kinkhabwala in the fourth quarter of the Browns’ second preseason game against the Buffalo Bills. Yet, it was from that interview that Bruce Drennan of “Big Play Cleveland” determined Sanders came off as an “adolescent goof.”
Now, appearing on the “Speakeasy” podcast, former Super Bowl champion and ex-Browns safety T.J. Ward came to Sanders’ defense, calling Drennan a “hater.”
“Sounds like a hater if I ever heard one,” Ward said. “First off, he is a young man, so he kind of is adolescent, right? Especially in the NFL. You got guys like this dude behind the mic that just hates to see young, rich, black men have fun. They hate to see us happy.”
“I don’t even know his name. I don’t know if he’s Cleveland media, but he just seems like a grumpy old man mad at life,” Ward added. “Mad that he couldn’t do the things in life that some of these young men are doing at a very young age, making a very large lump sum of money. That’s what that comes off as.”
START PREPARING: PFN’s Free Fantasy Draft Simulator
Ward wasn’t finished. He couldn’t believe that a member of the Cleveland media was really coming at one of his team’s QBs for a lighthearted interview. After all, it’s not like Sanders was calling out the fanbase or anything.
“This dude, we have a quarterback on the same team who obviously dislikes the fans very much, right?” Ward asked. “Talked about the fans and how he doesn’t like them and whatnot. And you have Shedeur coming out, he made a mistake, but he’s lighthearted about it. That’s his personality. He’s lighthearted about certain things.”
“That dude needs to go sit down somewhere. I don’t know who he is, but he definitely reminds me of the Grumpy Old Men movie,” Ward added.
BE THE GM OF YOUR FAVORITE TEAM: PFN’s Free NFL Mock Draft Simulator
To be fair, Sanders is just 24 years old. As Ward agreed, he is a bit young. But NFL locker rooms have no age requirement when it comes to rallying the troops.
It doesn’t matter whether they’re 22 or 42, or whether they can put together a perfect sideline interview; a quarterback is measured by what he can accomplish on the field, in the locker room, and inside the huddle.
For now, they’ve determined that Sanders will begin the season as QB2, but that doesn’t necessarily mean he’ll end the year as the backup. There’s plenty of time for this “adolescent” to grow up.
