A somewhat bizarre Browns draft has led to a crowded quarterback room with four healthy signal callers. Our sports commentator Terry Pluto explains some of the criticism that caused Shedeur Sanders, son of NFL Hall of Famer and Colorado head coach Deion Sanders, to fall to the fifth round.
Sanders was viewed by many as the No. 2 QB in this class and was commonly mocked to go in the first round. The Browns traded their 166th and 192nd picks to the Seattle Seahawks to select Sanders with the 144th overall choice on Saturday.
Pluto believes there’s a couple reasons for Sanders’ freefall.
“Shedeur Sanders was never coached by anybody but his father from high school on," Pluto said. "Then, when (Sanders) came out (of college), Deion actually served as his son's agent.”
Pluto also studied Sanders on the field.
“I watched a couple games and I thought, ‘Well, he's pretty good,’ but I saw him getting sacked a lot and I didn't see him have this great arm," Pluto said.
Pluto said what made Sanders exceptional was his wide receiver, Travis Hunter. The Browns passed on drafting Hunter at No. 2 when they traded with Jacksonville to select fifth overall on Thursday.
“I wish the Browns still had not made that trade,” Pluto said. “Hunter was such, to me, is such a great receiver. If (Sanders) threw the ball in the same zip code as (Hunter), he found a way to go get it, and I really think that helped Shedeur, too.”
There’s speculation that the decision to draft Sanders came from team owner, Jimmy Haslam.
“Jimmy likes stuff like this," Pluto said. "He likes splashes. Of course, they asked (general manager) Andrew Berry, ‘Did the owner influence you taking Shedeur Sanders? The exact quote was, ‘Jimmy lets us do our jobs. Yeah, Jimmy let's us do our jobs.’ That's right off the transcript. That's what Andrew Berry said.”
The Browns drafted a quarterback ahead of Sanders by selecting Dillon Gabriel out of Oregon in the third round.
“If you want Shedeur Sanders, you could have taken him in the third round instead of Dillon Gabriel, and frankly, if they'd done that, we'd have a lot different discussion," Pluto said. "We'd talk about, ‘Okay, (Sanders) dropped a couple of rounds, but you know, it makes sense.’ You take a kind of a lottery pick,” he said.
Pluto said unlike most fifth round picks, Sanders comes with a ton of media attention and scrutiny.
“Kevin Stefanski, the coach, better get ready to answer the question every day, ‘How’s Shadeur looking? Is he throwing?,’” Pluto said.
Pluto wonders how much Deion Sanders will try to be involved in his son’s NFL career.
“I'll tell you one thing, I don't know what the Browns will do, (but if) he says one word, I'm going, ‘Deion, you got your own team to coach at the University of Colorado, go take care of that,"’ Pluto said. "And the son should say, ‘Dad, it didn't go so well the last time around with you kind of being the point guy.’”
Pluto said he thought Shedeur Sanders’ post-draft interview went well, thanking Berry and Stefanski for drafting him.
“I'm sure he was prepped on that, but it came across fairly genuine," Pluto said. "But all right, you've said the right things. You've "been humbled". Are you gonna come in and act that way? Or are you gonna still be acting like the guy who was supposed to be a top pick in the draft and who was paid, you know, was already making like pro money at Colorado? And that's up to Sanders to prove that.”
Still, Pluto said despite the attention and hype, the risk on Sanders is relatively low.
“If you're the Browns, you have very little invested in him," Pluto said. "This isn't like Deshaun Watson that you're stuck to him or even like Johnny Manziel was the first-round pick. If it goes poorly, you can just let him go.”
The Browns now have four healthy quarterbacks on the roster; Kenny Pickett, Joe Flacco, Dillon Gabriel and Shedeur Sanders.
“We always have quarterback drama and this is a new chapter,” Pluto said.
