Last year’s training camp for the Cleveland Browns was national news every day. It wasn’t coverage of the latest Super Bowl team or whose tight end was dating a pop star. It was the fact that the team had drafted Shedeur Sanders, who had dropped into the fifth round of the annual college draft.
Early in the pre-draft process, Sanders was projected to become the second overall draft pick. On a sports podcast, his father, Hall of Famer Deion Sanders, predicted his son would be drafted no further than fourth overall.
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RELATED: BROWNS COULD TRADE THIS QB – UNLESS THEY DON’T
And after the long fall to Round 5, everyone wanted to know why he fell and how he would perform in real NFL practices. Sabotage, or the truth? On top of all that, the Browns had already selected another quarterback, Oregon’s Dillon Gabriel, who was hand-picked by then-NFL head coach Kevin Stefanski.
At season’s end, both rookie signal-callers had plenty of starts, yet neither was named to the NFL All-Rookie Team.
Now, it’s Year 2 for Sanders. And as a matter of fact, for Gabriel also, since he remains a roster member. But a new chess piece was revealed when veteran Deshaun Watson showed up to compete for Cleveland’s starting quarterback job.
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Currently, the new Browns head coach, Todd Monken, has not announced a starting quarterback. So, the job has an opening, although the application period has closed. Also in the QB room is rookie Taylen Green out of Arkansas.
Four guys. Three with NFL experience. One with multiple Pro Bowl hardware and voted to the NFL All-Rookie Team. Yeah. Say his name.
Tale of two signal-callers
The Browns remain one of the NFL clubs at the top of the media watch list. With Watson making a return, everyone is reminded of the huge trade that brought him from the Houston Texans to Cleveland. It cost the Browns a multitude of first- and second-round draft picks (and other rounds), which propelled the Texans from cellar dwellers to winning their division twice and into the playoffs the past three seasons. A few fans and the media want to see how this plays out with Watson.
At the same time, after the Watson trade, the Browns plummeted. Without the constant flow of players onto the roster taken in Rounds 1-3, no team can remain competitive.
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Can Watson retake the starting QB job?
At the same time, there are two sets of Shedeur Sanders followers.
The first group believes he came from a program that his father coached, which went 4-8-0 and 9-4-0 while Shedeur was the starting quarterback, but never won a conference title, never won a bowl game, had a single All-American, and their only accolade was that WR-DB Travis Hunter took home the Heisman Trophy. In that voting, Shedeur had one first-place vote, seven second-place votes, 30 for third place, and finished #8 out of 10 candidates.
For reference, Gabriel finished third.
This group saw that Shedeur didn’t take going into the NFL as a serious opportunity, and because his father was always the coach, he would always be the starter regardless. They believe that Sanders needs at least another year of developmental work and that he can be a really good quarterback one day. Just not now.
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The second group all bought Browns #12 jerseys. That is why Shedeur led the league in rookie player jersey sales and was #5 overall. Three other QBs topped Sanders, but he outsold established stars such as Patrick Mahomes, Lamar Jackson, and Bo Nix.
The strongest of the pro-Shedeur group believes he can be the greatest quarterback of all time. Ever. They question why the coaching staff doesn’t see it, and why he isn’t getting starts. They show up en masse with their Browns #12 jerseys to away games, hoping to get a glimpse of his greatness and watch him dominate other teams live and in person.
Note to pro-Shedeur group: Get ready to pony up for another Shedeur jersey as he changed his digits to #2.
The top two QBs this year appear to be Watson and Shedeur. They will square off in this year’s training camp, which opens July 28 for veterans. It is expected that one of these two will be under center come Week 1, while the other will take over QB2. The other two quarterbacks? The fans and media really don’t care.
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And whoever wins the job, the media will feature Cleveland highlights and will become national news every game. “Shedeur the Conqueror” or “Deshaun the Regenerationer?”
Phillip Lindsay’s example
The Browns are known for having a good number of undrafted players on their roster each year. The entire specialist team of punter Corey Bojorquez, long snapper Rex Sunahara, and K Andre Szmyt fit into this category. So do safeties Ronnie Hickman and Donovan McMillon.
But don’t knock guys who aren’t drafted. Pittsburgh Steelers LB James Harrison, RBs Arian Foster of the Houston Texans, San Francisco’s Joe Perry, and Phillip Lindsay of the Denver Broncos, QBs Tony Romo of the Dallas Cowboys and Kurt Warner of the St. Louis Rams, and WR Drew Pearson with the Cowboys were all guys who weren’t picked, and then went out and balled out.
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Many undrafted guys have been voted to Pro Bowls. TE Antonio Gates of the San Diego Chargers earned eight Pro Bowls. Pearson was named to the NFL 1970s Team. Warner was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. So was undrafted OG Larry Little of the Miami Dolphins.
Lindsay was overlooked in the 2018 NFL draft. He was a short, lightly built runner from the University of Colorado, where he was voted Second Team All-Pac 12 his senior year. And despite having 4.39 speed, nobody called him during the draft.
He had plenty of calls after the draft and decided on the local team, the Broncos. Lindsay grew up in the Washington Park neighborhood on the south side of Denver. The Broncos’ starting RB was Royce Freeman, with Devaontae Booker as the backup. Neither was considered a superstar. Lindsay had a really good camp and preseason. After making the final roster, he was listed as RB3 to start Week 1.
The Broncos coaching staff played Lindsay right away, and he began to chip away at that depth chart. He became the first undrafted running back to gain 100+ scrimmage yards in his first two games in the league. In Week 13, he rushed for 157 yards. He finished the year with 1,278 total yards (1,037 rushing yards, 241 receiving yards) from scrimmage and 10 touchdowns. At one point, he was splitting carries with Freeman.
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Not only did Lindsay make the NFL All-Rookie Team, but he was voted to the Pro Bowl.
Which brings us to the Browns QB situation
Lindsay spent three years in Denver, while his final pro football season was 2023. He is now a Denver radio host. He co-hosts the afternoon drive show, known as “The Drive,” on the sports radio station 104.3 The Fan.
As a former NFL player, he knows how difficult it is to succeed at the next level. NFL linebackers hit harder. NFL defensive ends are faster. NFL safeties will lay you out and make a meme out of the tackle.
Recently, Lindsay was interviewed by Kyle Odegar of the Action Network when the topic shifted to Cleveland’s quarterback logjam. Lindsay was asked what he believes the Browns training camp will reveal this year:
“You have people who want you to succeed, and you have a lot of people that want you to fail. It forces you to go to work every single day and be as good as possible. Everything might not go your way, but you’ve got to stay consistent. That’s life. That’s football.”
Everyone, including Lindsay, knows Watson’s history regarding the trade, as well as Shedeur’s story going from a Top-5 projection to another five, meaning fifth-round. Many pointed to character concerns regarding last year’s rookie, and the fact that he didn’t interview well and basically blew everybody off with his aloof attitude.
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And it wasn’t like Shedeur was shy and had little to say. He just didn’t professionally answer questions, according to representatives of the New York Football Giants, and acted disinterested at times.
But he saw the field for eight games and seven starts for Cleveland last year. Shedeur’s final stats were 120 completions on 212 attempts for 1,400 yards, a 56.6% completion ratio, 7 touchdown passes with 10 interceptions, 54 first down conversions, a 68.1 QB rating, sacked 23 times, 1 fourth quarter comeback, 3.1 drop percentage, 35 poor throws, and an on-target percentage of 69.6%.
He also rushed 21 times for 169 yards with 7 first down conversions, 2 fumbles, 1 touchdown, and an 8.0 average yards per rushing attempt.
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Lindsay added:
“Everybody at some point in their life they get humbled. They get brought back down to reality. I think that it was a learning lesson for him. It’s not a good feeling. The worst feeling I ever felt was the three days during the draft when I did not get drafted. You’re sitting there questioning yourself like, ‘Why doesn’t anyone want me?’ ”
It should be an epic battle between Watson and Shedeur. There have been articles written about not including Gabriel in that equation, but the sight lines don’t seem to include him in this encounter.
It’s not that Watson isn’t a talented quarterback. He is. Or was. He went to three consecutive Pro Bowls while with the Texans, including after a season in which Houston only won four games. That year, he led the league in passing yards with 4,823, tossing 33 touchdowns against just 7 interceptions. He was rated as one of the Top-5 signalcallers in the league.
However, he hasn’t shown any of that while with Cleveland. He has played in just 19 games while missing 33, and looks like a below-average talent.
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If it is indeed a two-man race, can Shedeur show out versus Watson’s experience?
Lindsay had this opinion:
“(Shedeur) will beat out Deshaun Watson. I truly think he can beat out Deshaun Watson. He’s young. He has very good talent. He’s smart. He just has to go out there and stay consistent.”
The fact that the Browns now have talent along the offensive line will help tremendously. Also, consider that last year, Cleveland’s receiver room was ranked #32 was a stark reminder of just how badly the franchise needed decent pass catchers.
LINK: ODEGARD’S INTERVIEW WITH PHILLIP LINDSAY
Browns GM Andrew Berry then made it his mission to revamp the offensive line and go get some talented bodies to throw to. During free agency, Berry signed Tylan Wallace away from the Baltimore Ravens, who was used more for his return abilities than his receiving skills. In the draft, Berry chose Texas A&M’s KC Concepcion in the bottom of Round 1, and then with his very next pick, he took Denzel Boston from Washington.
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It is perceived that both Isaiah Bond and Ced Tillman will contribute more. For now, it’s a very crowded room with 12 bodies under contract for training camp.
“That’s how you become really good in the league. Consistency. “What can you do in Week 4 during camp? Not Week 1 when everybody is fresh. The dog days when nobody wants to be out there. Can you be the same version of yourself? If Shedeur can do that, be that leader and elevate people around him, he’ll be just fine.”
Right now, some unofficial Browns depth charts have Watson as the starter, while others flip that. When the pads go on is when quarterbacks will be going against grown-ass men who play football for a living. So “unofficial” depth charts mean nothing at this juncture. The Browns don’t offer “official” depth charts until training camp begins.
Lindsay still believes it will be Shedeur under center in Week 1:
“It puts you in a situation where you don’t want to feel that way, and you’re going to work as hard as possible to change people’s minds, and never put yourself in that situation again. So, I think for Shedeur, you’re going to get the best version of him this year.”
Getting both quarterbacks to be involved will become the easy part. Watson has a mission to prove he can still play at an elite level, while Shedeur is on a quest to prove that every team that passed on him four times made a huge mistake.
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