Why The Browns Should Not Start Their Rookie Quarterback Week One
It should be a given rule in the NFL that no Rookie quarterback on any team should be starting in Week One of the NFL Season. It’s different during the preseason, but the regular season is a different story. The Cleveland Browns are currently dealing with a huge quarterback battle as to who will start on their team this coming season. It currently stands between Veteran Joe Flacco, Kenny Pickett, and both rookie draft picks, Shedeur Sanders and Dillon Gabriel. The biggest discussion at the moment is whether Sanders should start during Week One; this would be a mistake on the Browns’ part.
Sanders is just coming out of college, and he has a lot to learn in the NFL. He’s already turning heads during OTAS. This young rookie is calm and has a precise arm, which is very tempting to get him started in Week One. However, with the Browns’ rebuild this offseason and how decent they are looking, they do have a chance to win a few games. Even with top-tier rookies, this could either go great, or it could derail the entire process that the Browns have spent a lot of time fixing this offseason.
Sanders was looked over several times during this year's NFL Draft. There were multiple reasons for it, it was the attitude and some of the interviews that did not go well with how he showed up with a chip on his shoulder. He’s always had a safety net, such as his father, Deion Sanders, who coached his college football team and was in the NFL himself. Having Sanders' father in the middle of everything was one factor in why many teams passed on him. Now that he doesn’t have any of that there, one bad performance on live national television may shake him up.
The Browns need to take all measures into consideration here when it comes to the possibility of starting this young rookie quarterback. They need to follow the footsteps of almost every other team in the NFL. The only one who really has the exception to start their brand new rookie quarterback is the Titans, Cam Ward, because he went as the number one overall pick. Sanders needs to take the first half of the season and learn from others and study Cleveland’s playbook before he is handed the leadership role.
Cleveland also has other factors that need to come into play here before they just toss anyone into the position. They still have Deshaun Watson on their roster, who has been out with a torn ACL injury for the last year. He has been to OTA’s but there has been no discussion of him coming back later this season. The Browns need to not make the future of Sanders arrive sooner than it should, and really look over everything else before they just make a desperation move with any of their quarterbacks.
