The coverage of Shedeur Sanders as Cleveland’s second-string quarterback has been unlike anything we’ve ever seen before. And Dan Patrick wants to know why nobody’s asking the same questions about anyone else.
The longtime radio host questioned on Thursday why reporters are fixated on whether Sanders is getting first-team reps while ignoring identical situations across the league.
“Once again, the media’s obsession with Shedeur Sanders getting playing time is interesting because has anybody asked the question to the Tennessee Titans about their backup quarterback getting reps?” Patrick said on his show. “Because your rookie quarterback, No. 1 pick, hasn’t been playing very well. I think it’s Brandon Allen, who might be the backup quarterback. Has anyone asked that? Is anyone asking if the backup to Jaxon Dart is getting any reps with the first team?”
The Browns named Dillon Gabriel their starter earlier this month after benching Joe Flacco. After trading Flacco to the Cincinnati Bengals, much to Mike Tomlin’s displeasure, Sanders moved up to the No. 2 quarterback on Cleveland’s depth chart.
When Browns head coach Kevin Stefanski was asked this week if Sanders was getting first-team reps, he said no.
“With a young quarterback, with Dillon starting, you want to make sure he gets a lot of the reps,” Stefanski answered. “It’s different when you have a veteran with Joe.”
“Dillon Gabriel is a better quarterback, right now, than Shedeur Sanders,” Patrick added. “Plain and simple. Not many fifth-round draft picks get this kind of attention, and granted, it has to do with Deion.”
Sanders slid from a projected top-three pick to No. 144 overall in the 2025 NFL Draft. By the time Sanders arrived in Cleveland for training camp, he wasn’t just one of the most famous players on the Browns’ roster, but one of the most famous in the NFL.
Reports emerged before the draft about Sanders being “brash” and “arrogant” in team meetings, though those reports came from anonymous sources. Deion Sanders said multiple times – including during Super Bowl week — that he would try to manipulate the draft, telling teams not to draft his son if they weren’t the right fit.
“We had Deion on at the Super Bowl, and he’s telling us basically he was going to try to manipulate the draft,” Patrick said. “He was going to say, ‘Don’t draft my son. My son doesn’t want to come play for you.’ Did that lead to him falling — free-falling? I’m gonna guess some of that. People looked at his tape, didn’t think that the way he played, he held onto the ball, which led to a lot of sacks. Did he play well at Jackson State and Colorado? Yes. I put him third on my Heisman ballot, that’s how much I thought of him.”
Sanders has generated more attention as a backup quarterback than maybe anyone in NFL history. Every move Sanders makes — or doesn’t — becomes a story, which is exactly Patrick’s point about the disparity in coverage.
“I don’t think anybody is asking if the Titans’ backup quarterback is getting first-team reps. I don’t think so,” Patrick said. “We talk about Tua. Tua is a hit away. Is anyone saying, ‘Is Quinn Ewers getting reps with the first-team?’ See, we pick and choose. It’s unfortunate, and you’re kind of forcing this story. It’s what we do.”
The Browns are 1-5. Gabriel was a third-round pick who has completed nearly 60 percent of his passes through three starts. Sanders went in the fifth round and sits behind him on the depth chart. Nobody’s asking about backup quarterbacks in Tennessee or New York. But in Cleveland, a fifth-round pick who isn’t starting and isn’t getting first-team reps remains one of the biggest stories in the NFL.
About Sam Neumann
Since the beginning of 2023, Sam has been a staff writer for Awful Announcing and The Comeback. A 2021 graduate of Temple University, Sam is a Charlotte native, who currently calls Greenville, South Carolina his home. He also has a love/hate relationship with the New York Mets and Jets.