Shedeur Sanders made his NFL regular-season debut on Sunday after he was forced into action for the Browns against the Ravens when starter Dillon Gabriel suffered a concussion. It did not go well, to say the least. The fifth-round pick out of Colorado completed four of his 16 pass attempts for a grand total of 47 yards. He failed to throw a touchdown but did manage an interception. As one could probably guess from that statline Cleveland lost to Baltimore, 23-16.
Afterwards coach Kevin Stefanski discussed Sanders’s first taste of real NFL action and revealed his struggles could be partly attributed to a lack of familiarity with the starting unit; Stefanski explained Sunday was the first time Sanders had taken snaps with the first team since he was drafted. His surprising admission caused a stir among fans who believe Stefanski wasn’t setting up Sanders for success by not giving him even a single rep with the starters given the uncertainty of the team’s quarterback situation.
On Monday morning, Stefanski was defended by an unexpected source. Luke McCown, the former NFL quarterback who played for six teams in 12 seasons mostly as a backup, decided to chime in and defend the Browns for Sanders’s lack of starting reps. He outlined how NFL practices actually work for those who have never been part of one and why it shouldn't be surprising that Sanders was practicing with backups instead since joining the team. McCown also preached that the backup QB spot is the hardest position in sports because of how practice reps are divided in the NFL.
“Former 4th round pick here.. Former Journeyman backup here.. I think there is a massive misunderstanding about how an NFL practice is structured,” McCown wrote on his X account in response to Stefanski’s admission about Sanders. “The only time mid round pick rookies and backups get meaningful reps is in training camp, and they are never with the ones unless you are competing or starting that next preseason game. Regular season practices have 10-12 plays per period.. that’s team run, team pass, team blitz pickup, and some teams still do a 7v7 period… But for the most part that’s are 30-40 live full speed reps of the actual gameplan practiced on Wed, Thursday and Friday in the NFL.. these all go to the starting QB.. he’s the one that has to be to get ready. And if healthy he gets to make that call.
“These team periods alternate between O and D with backups and PS players and even some guys that will play significant roles on Sunday, serving as scout team ‘look’ squads for those periods. This is where we backups get our reps. You have to try and translate what the scout team play is into your offense and play it accordingly. Honestly this is a lot of times more beneficial to you as a QB because you’re getting reps against a full defense of starters at full speed, the minus being that it’s not necessarily your offensive plays your running. Folks don’t understand, it’s incredibly difficult, probably the hardest job in all of sports!!! to be a backup QB, for this very reason. Because of limited to no reps and same expectations.. And that is you must come in and perform at the same level as the guy you replaced for your teammates, coaches and your own career security.
“You come in and struggle an you’re evaluated of that performance, right or wrong, the league makes it’s judgements about you, that’s why it’s so hard for backups to have long careers that weren’t at one point full time starters (nod to guys like myself & my buddies [Dan Orlovsky and [Chase Daniel]).
“Yes it stinks that that’s the situation SS came into. I’ve been there, LITERALLY, with the Browns, as a rookie, as a mid round pick. So have many other rookies.. you play, you learn and grow and get better.. or you don’t. Absolutely reps help, Absolutely he’ll be better with a full week of prep.
“But those are the hands as backups we’re dealt, and in those moments and we have to make the most of them. SS will be better with reps for sure. But if DG remains the guy the facts of life in an NFL practice still remains for us backups..”
It makes plenty of sense when laid out like that by a man who has experienced the ups and downs of the backup quarterback life. NFL teams are so completely and utterly focused on winning each week’s game, it would be more surprising if Sanders received anything other than backup reps during the season. There just isn’t enough time to get him reps with the starters while ensuring the incumbent quarterback is also ready to go in most instances.
Stefanski’s detractors in this situation point to the snaps Gabriel got with the starters in training camp while Flacco was ahead of him on the depth chart. McCown addressed this as well in a reply.
“I think it’s quite different because Flacco didn’t need, nor probably want all the reps,” McCown wrote. “They viewed DG, as a 3rd round investment, a high priority and (in their plans) likely future starter for the franchise so those reps weren’t necessarily to get him ready to play during a week but, rather ongoing development…
“Now that DG has been the starter it’s about making sure the coaching staff feels he is fully prepared for the game. Getting him as many reps and looks as possible.. and remember those are a limited number, He needs all of them, Flacco didn’t.
“The difference really isn’t about SS, but Flacco as a vet starter and DG as a rookie starter.. that’s why it’s a different…. If DG were a vet starter in his umpteenth yr, you’d see SS getting those reps”
Now, whether the Browns have prioritized starting snaps for Sanders is another conversation. The quarterback situation in Cleveland was shaky heading into the offseason and a case can be made Stefanski would have been better off giving everybody practice reps with the starters. But the fact that he didn’t merely reflects how NFL teams normally operate. He treated Sanders like a fifth-round pick who was supposed to learn on the sideline all season long. Given Sanders was, indeed, a fifth-round pick it’s hard to argue with the logic of following that path.
Regardless, the band-aid has been ripped off. Sanders was thrown into the deep end of the NFL waters and showed he has a lot of work to do. As McCown notes, his practice situation is unlikely to improve if Gabriel replaces him as the starter again so Sanders has to take advantage of whatever opportunity he now has.
The Browns will play the Raiders next. Who will be under center should be determined later this week.
