Shedeur Sanders fan narratives— Part 11: The Browns should trade him away

*Editor's note: This 12-part series takes an extended look into the early NFL career of Colorado legend Shedeur Sanders and the conversations by fans. View the entire series here.

Tell me you don’t watch football without telling me you don’t watch football. This might be the most frustrating of all the narratives with the added benefit of being the narrative said the most. This narrative is asking for a fight. Throughout all of these narratives there are two thoughts that come to mind the quickest. “That’s not how this works” and “why are we just making stuff up”? The logic is simple. People expected Shedeur Sanders to be further along in the process with many believing he should be QB1 based on what he did in college. 

The next logical step is to say, if the Browns aren’t going to put him where we think he should be, they should trade him. Is trading a player an option to move a player allowed by the NFL? Yes, but before you fly off the handle, name the last drafted QB to be traded before the season? The short answer is you can’t find one. That’s never happened. Not for drafted rookie QB on a team who has not been able to figure out the QB position in 30 years. Are there situations where a team will trade their 4th year player to a team who just had their QB go down with injury? Yes, but is that the same thing? 

Before we move on to the grander trade argument, Coach Prime’s Ed Werder confrontation at TCU, “Do you believe now?!” has got some of you delusional. Believe in and appreciate him? Are we talking about football or the Christmas sweater your mother bought you that you refuse to wear? Belief and appreciation are not words used when discussing a rookie QB battling in training camp. I can’t think of one example of a coach or team saying we really appreciate this rookie. Or we believe so much in this rookie that all the veterans can take a seat. These narratives are introducing things that do not exist in the previously established football landscape. 

Draft picks are currency. Do you throw money away? In the case of Shedeur Sanders, Cleveland traded two draft picks to move up to get him. Now the analogy is do you throw away a lot of money? Draft picks are currency, GMs are graded on how well their draft picks pan out, most rookie QBs don’t start week 1. In the last 25 years there have been 125 rookie QBs expected to start at some point. Of the 125, only 29 have started week 1. Of those 29, 20 were first round picks or Heisman trophy winners. Of the remaining 9, 7 were drafted between 33 and 40. 

The remaining two are Dak Prescott and Russell Wilson. Dak started because Romo got hurt and Russell Wilson started because he was far and away the best QB they had in camp. Where can you even find a logic to fix your brain to think, they should just trade him? In what reality is that even a reasonable thing to say when it doesn’t ever happen? The answer is it's not. It’s a flippant comment in the face of frustration. In addition, it has been a long held belief by many outside the Cleveland fandom footprint, that since Cleveland has been universally not good since the 90s, they should just be a feeder system to other teams outsiders like more. Cleveland needs a RB, maybe the LA Chargers will trade them Omarion Hampton. See how that doesn’t make any sense when the shoe is on the other foot? 

The next question is where and based on what logic? The short answer is the Browns are only a team supported by its direct fans. The Browns are a fanbase one is born into, no one chooses Cleveland if all options are available. Cleveland was the last place Shedeur fans wanted him to go. It's not sexy enough. Look at the places fans wanted him to go. Dallas, Atlanta, New Orleans, NY, those are all massive media markets or vacation destinations and have virtually nothing in common with Cleveland. It’s wishful thinking to invoke a never used tactic into a matter of fact thing that has the potential of happening. 

The other side of that coin is what it would mean if Andrew Berry did that. He already has a less than stellar draft pick track record. In a draft where Shedeur was the second QB taken, what happens if Shedeur is traded and does well elsewhere? What if Gabriel is good but not the answer? The trade could be viewed as nails in the coffin, draft record wise. 

Let’s take it even further. In a draft where 31 teams passed on Shedeur Sanders ultimately 7-9 times, and Cleveland only passed on him 5 times, where is the logic that somewhere else is a better destination? One of the 31 teams that said, naw we’re good, is all of a sudden going to be motivated to trade more draft assets than it would’ve cost to draft him in the first place. Berry is not trading him for a 5th, 6th or 7th round draft pick. If that were a realistic conversation, he’s starting at a 2nd round pick and we can have a conversation. 

What about the current starter? Is Dallas telling Dak to sit. Is Altanta saying Penix, I know it's your time but we just got Shedeur Sanders? New Orleans probably could put him up higher based on their QB room, but not at this stage. If Shedeur were traded the entire process he’s already been through since May would simply hit the reset button. 

Typically, when someone invokes the “they should just trade him”, A) they aren’t thinking that concept through to its logical conclusion and B) it’s usually followed with “they’re only using him for jersey sales and clicks”. Oh the lack of understanding of the franchise you blame. The Browns have never cared much about clicks and Shedeur is not the first player they’ve had to lead the league in jersey sales. 

Another fun one is they are only using Shedeur to sell tickets to games, “if Shedeur doesn’t play that stadium will be empty”. Hate to be the bearer of bad news, but the Cleveland Browns stadium (in each naming iteration) has had a waiting list for season tickets since before 1999.

Browns tickets are passed down, they are line items in a person’s will. In all their losing and depressing seasons, they have never had a problem selling out games. Shedeur fans might not watch the Browns if he doesn’t play, but they will never have a problem selling out that stadium. Or the new stadium being built over the next 3-4 years. 

If you’ve ever uttered any version of “The Browns should just trade him then” please understand you sound insane or you don’t watch football at a level to have ‘trade’ conversations.