Former Browns HC Warns Against Handing Shedeur Sanders QB1 Job Too Soon
· Yahoo Sports
Cleveland‘s QB competition is gaining a new voice pushing back on the notion of giving the job to Shedeur Sanders. Even with Deshaun Watson’s rocky track record in Cleveland, former Browns head coach Eric Mangini is not buying it.
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“Shedeur’s numbers last year; I don’t know what number we’re looking at that Shedeur had that says, hey, this guy should be the day one starter with no competition,” Mangini said on First Things First. “He had 56% completion. He had a 68.1 quarterback rating. He was sacked almost 10% of the time. He threw more picks than he threw touchdowns.”
Across eight games and seven starts, Sanders completed 56.6% of his passes for 1,400 yards. He threw seven touchdowns against 10 interceptions, finishing with a 68.1 passer rating and a 3-4 record as a starter. His only notable performance came in the Week 13 game vs the Tennessee Titans.
The Browns settled on Sanders after failing with Joe Flacco and Dillon Gabriel as starting quarterbacks. Even though Sanders wasn’t all that impressive, he still helped the team register three important wins; Flacco and Gabriel each won one game. This might be a big reason why Sanders, now in his second year in the league, is a top contender for the QB1 job.
Had Deshaun Watson not been healthy, Sanders might have been a lock for the starting job this year. Watson’s experience easily outshines Sanders’ bid, even though the former hasn’t played a full season for Cleveland.
Browns owner Jimmy Haslam went further in backing Watson specifically earlier this offseason.
“Deshaun has a great chance, fresh start, offensive-minded coach, who has in his past been able to work with all kinds of different quarterbacks and make them successful,” he told the press at the annual league meetings earlier this year.
Entering training camp, the gap between Sanders and Watson was close. But the younger quarterback still hasn’t been able to edge past the veteran. The staff noted during the offseason that Sanders has improved this year, but he’s yet to gain the upper hand.
Monken has kept the competition open for training camp, alternating first-team reps between both quarterbacks. But it is presumed that Deshaun Watson will be named QB1 over Shedeur Sanders.
“The process-driven Browns aren’t going to decide this based on public perception — that is, what their fans would think,” ESPN’s Dan Graziano wrote, predicting Watson as the Week 1 starter. “And Monken, who has waited a long time to be a head coach, is likely to push for the guy who gives Cleveland the best chance to win. A healthy Watson, performing the way he did early in spring practices, could very well end training camp looking like that guy.”
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