Baker Mayfield Sends Browns QB Shedeur Sanders Clear Warning
The last time the Cleveland Browns had a rookie who garnered as much interest and sparked as much debate as quarterback Shedeur Sanders was after they selected Baker Mayfield No. 1 overall in the 2018 NFL draft.
On Wednesday, August 20, Mayfield offered Sanders candid advice on his impending professional career that doubled as a sort of warning about obstacles he will no doubt face.
“Since he was young, he’s had the spotlight on him. So people are gonna be over-critical about every little thing,” Mayfield told Mackenzie Salmon of USA Today Sports. “So I mean the cliché: control what you can control. As a quarterback, that’s how do you win football games and how do you elevate the guys around you? I think he himself has all the pieces he needs to have success, and it’s just about the time and place.”
Mayfield played four seasons in Cleveland and in 2020 led the franchise to its first playoff victory in a quarter-century. The Browns traded Mayfield following an injury-plagued 2022 campaign in favor of Deshaun Watson in what now appears to be the worst trade followed by the worst contract in league history.
Mayfield bounced around the NFL for a year before landing with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, where he has earned Pro-Bowl honors and playoff trips in each of the past two seasons as the NFC South Division champion.
Shedeur Sanders Having Better Preseason Than Dillon Gabriel
GettyQuarterback Shedeur Sanders of the Cleveland Browns.
Sanders landed with Cleveland in the fifth round of the draft in April after falling from a potential top-10 prospect all the way to Day 3.
He entered the preseason as the team’s QB4 and was still in that spot heading into Browns’ training camp. However, Sanders put up a quality performance in an unforeseen opportunity to start Cleveland’s first preseason game of August against the Carolina Panthers.
Both Kenny Pickett and Dillon Gabriel were battling hamstring injuries, and Sanders took advantage by producing a 14-of-23 performance for 138 yards and two TDs. Gabriel started the following game against the Philadelphia Eagles and potentially set himself back in the competition.
“[Gabriel] looks like somebody who was preparing to be a backup quarterback his entire career … and Shedeur didn’t. Shedeur looked like somebody that you can actually make a starting quarterback and develop around,” Jonathan Peterlin of 92.3 The Fan said Tuesday. “There was a stark difference between what you saw with Shedeur and what you saw with Dillon.”
Dillon Gabriel ‘Lock’ to Make Browns Roster, Shedeur Sanders Isn’t
GettyCleveland Browns quarterback Dillon Gabriel.
Despite what Sanders has overcome to be here less than two weeks away from cutdown day, on which the Browns will submit their first unofficial 53-man roster to the league, he continues to fight for his place in the organization — and, by extension, his NFL future.
Zac Jackson of The Athletic published good news for Sanders on Tuesday, naming him a “near-lock” for the final 53-man roster along with Pickett. Jackson labeled Gabriel and Week 1 starter Joe Flacco as full locks to make the team.
“We’re waiting for more clarity on the quarterback injuries,” Jackson wrote. “It seems that the Browns will keep four on their initial 53-man roster, as they did last year.”
One of those four is liable to hit the trade block ahead of the early-November deadline, though it’s most likely Flacco or Pickett who will exit. Thus, Sanders and Gabriel will continue battling for rookie supremacy. And if, and when, Cleveland falls out of playoff contention, the winner of that bout will get first crack at starting for an NFL team.
