The first week of the NFL preseason is in the books, leading to a slew of rational, not-insane-at-all opinions as people get their first taste of football this season. There are a lot of things causing people to have wild overreactions to the first week of the preseason, but we all already know where an overreactions piece on the NFL has to start.
Let the process play out with Shedeur Sanders
Shedeur Sanders had a good start to his rookie year with a solid showing against the Panthers in his first preseason game. Sanders played the bulk of the snaps in the game, throwing two touchdowns and having some other nice throws. It wasn’t a perfect game from him and he definitely needs to continue to adjust to the speed of the NFL, but it did show that he deserves a real chance to compete for a roster spot as the Browns make some tough decisions as to how many quarterbacks they carry on the roster this season.
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That’s all it really has to be. However, now there’s people saying (of course) Shedeur Sanders should be getting to practice with the first-team offense for the Browns. All of sudden, two-time Coach of the Year Kevin Stefanski is some clueless bum who doesn’t know how to run his team. In the name of a fifth-round quarterback. Now, Sanders very well might not be the worst quarterback on the team — third-round pick Dillon Gabriel has yet to make his preseason debut — but he still has a ways to go before he cements his roster spot.
Just take the positives as they come and remember, the preseason is a different ball game. A couple of years ago, current Browns quarterback Kenny Pickett lit up the preseason causing people to buy in on his prospect as a potential star quarterback. Now, he’s in the same battle for his career as Sanders. Be easy, remember the preseason is the preseason. Let the process play out.
Anthony Richardson isn’t doomed just yet
Hey, not a great start for a guy trying to salvage his career as a starting quarterback and former first-round pick. Anthony Richardson’s attempt to continue being the starting quarterback of the Indianapolis Colts got off to a horrible start when he was knocked out of their preseason opener after taking a big hit from Ravens pass rusher David Ojabo on a protection bust between himself and the offensive line. There have been a bunch of reactions surrounding the hit, namely that this is just another piece of data that suggests Richardson is not ready for the opportunity that has been placed in front of him. Daniel Jones will start the next preseason game, but that was planned even before Richardson was hurt.
While this definitely does hurt his chances to be the opening day starter for the Colts, it doesn’t mean that the book is necessarily closed. The best chance for head coach Shane Steichen and others to keep their job is still Richardson becoming the quarterback that they hoped they were getting back in 2023. He is still fairly far away from that goal, but it doesn’t mean that all hope is lost. There’s still time to learn and his competition for the job isn’t exactly fierce with Jones being his primary opposition.
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Again, just take these things day by day in the preseason. There’s not much correlation here in regard to regular season success.
Jets look to be buying in
Perhaps this is a reminder to myself to not overreact to stuff, but it looks like Aaron Glenn is really starting to figure things out with the Jets already. For a team that looked so unbelievably lifeless toward the end of last season, it was incredible to see the fire and physicality that they played with in their preseason opener. They had a strong performance from the offensive line, had some great performances from a couple running backs and Justin Fields was able to make a couple big plays to inspire confidence.
On the other side of the field, the Jets’ first-team defense was flying around with Sauce Gardner making some of the best plays that he has in a year. Their first preseason game was a reminder that the Jets, for all their faults last year, are not a team that has no talent to speak of. They look like they’ll be a tough out for a lot of teams this year, but, like I’ve said in the first couple sections, it’s just the first week of the preseason.
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Cam Ward looks like the real deal
The last one will be another reminder to myself that the preseason is just the preseason, but the oft-forgotten first overall pick, Cam Ward of the Tennessee Titans, will be making his NFL debut this year and looks like he can take this offense to a more credible level than where they were last year. Ward looked comfortable operating the offense and let it rip a couple times into tight coverage. He showed off his trademark playmaking ability out of the pocket and was generally more competent than anything the Titans have had under center in a long time.
Now, there’s still a ways to go until Ward can be considered a bonafide franchise quarterback, but his Titans debut certainly showed the framework is there.
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