Social Media Reacts To Shedeur Sanders as Dillon Gabriel Sits Out With Injury

Social Media Reacts To Shedeur Sanders:

LeBron James Reacts

With all the social media hype surrounding Sanders' two quarters of play, NBA legend Lebron James stepped in with his own perspective on the situation. In a series of two posts, James stepped up to bat to advocate for the rookie.

"That young (king emoji) looking good out there! Keep going UP!!! HEAD down on the grind and HEAD high to the most high," James first posted.

"And I don’t wanna hear that 'It’s only preseason' bs," James continued in a separate post. "Cause if he was out there not going in y’all would be on his ass about it! So give credit and grace lames."

Sanders Challenges Cleveland Media

While walking to the locker room, Sanders stopped ESPN Cleveland analyst and Browns media veteran Tony Grossi to call out what Sanders deemed to be unfair coverage of himself.

“I’m hoping you got something positive to say. You only say negative things about me. And I ain’t done nothing to you," Sanders said to Grossi.

That interaction clip also went viral, with Grossi's response to Sanders' debuting doing the same.

"My bottom line on Shedeur Sanders' impressive debut: He put the pressure on QB2 Kenny Pickett and QB3 Dillon Gabriel to get healthy and perform next week," Grossi said on X.

How does the reaction to Sanders' debut impact Gabriel?

For those wondering how all this media hype around Sanders impacts Gabriel's chance at the starting job, it's probably minimal. Browns coach Kevin Stefanski admitted earlier in the week that Gabriel's benching is due to an extension of caution, a positive sign he's still very much in the running for starter if he's being safeguarded during the preseason.

“Just being very careful with him. Don’t want to expose him to any unnecessary strain, if you will," Stefanski said.

Gabriel even addressed the way he handles the controversial media reactions regarding the Browns quarterback battle earlier this year.

"I think the more questions I get asked like that, it just divides the team," Gabriel said in May. "For me, we’re in a room full of not just us – Kenny, Joe and Deshaun. For us, we know how important a healthy QB room is. But also, a team that you want to be a part of."