Shedeur Sanders 'Grinding It Out' in Browns Non-Traditional QB Battle

The Cleveland Browns QB battle is different from a few different standpoints. One talking point that needs to be retired is the QB being ranked in order 1-4. This is not a conventional quarterback competition and to say it is would be foolish at the very least.

The Browns are running a “two-spot” or “pods” system during this competition. This allows the four QBs to get reps at the same time. Which means any comments about who is first or last don't make sense. Fans are not going to get much from stat tracking. This is typically based on situational football and isn’t representative of a full body of work.

As frustrating as it might seem, there is very little we can take from until Shedeur Sanders is good on the operational aspects. It's operational readiness versus talent on deck. The biggest recent pushback has been ‘why doesn’t Shedeur get first team reps’? Put the talent on the backburner for just a moment. If you polled 100,000 college football fans, chances are great that the vast majority would put Sanders over Gabriel.

They’d probably also put Sanders ahead of Pickett. The problem with that is Flacco, Pickett and even Gabriel have more volume of experience with the operational side. The pre-snap and post-snap reads, under center, different types of checks, etc. Most college QBs are very good at their team’s operational needs. This is why people will often say, ‘will that translate to the NFL’?

As for Sanders' readiness, he comes as one of the toughest competitors on the field. The Browns got a great option, especially for a non-traditional fifth-rounder. He'll get the opportunity to shine on the field. However, anyone who was thinking he would come into Cleveland and beat out everyone right off the bat, they're not in tune with how the NFL has operated for over 100 years. It's June and there's a lot of football yet to be played.