Shedeur Sanders was going to make headlines regardless of how he played in his NFL preseason debut.
But, following a superb performance in which his 138 passing yards, 19 rushing yards and two touchdowns helped the Cleveland Browns cruise to a 30-10 victory over the Carolina Panthers, Sanders didn’t hold back from media personnel.
After his first ever NFL game, the former Colorado Buffaloes quarterback had a chance encounter with Cleveland radio host Tony Grossi and had a few playful words for the veteran beat writer.
“Tony, I be hoping you got something positive to say about me,” Sanders said with a wry smile. “You only say negative stuff about me. And I’m like, ‘I ain’t do nothing to you.’”
“I ain’t seen nothing positive that you’ve ever said,” Sanders joked before bursting into laughter. “Come on Tony, what did I do? What did I do to you Tony?”
Sanders’ demeanour was friendly throughout, and although he did confront him, he did so in a respectful and classy way.
Grossi is an outspoken character who has been a long-time critic of the Browns organization and its players, so it remains to be seen how he will go about handling his coverage of Sanders going forward.
For example, you only have to cast your mind back to 2020 where Grossi was suspended after making a derogatory remark about then-Browns quarterback Baker Mayfield, in which he also had to issue a public apology on social media.
Mayfield walked out of a media conference in 2019 over a question from Grossi, before airing his grievances on what was then Twitter.
On Saturday night’s episode of Nightcap with former NFL stars-turned-broadcasters Shannon Sharpe and Chad ‘Ochocinco’ Johnson, the pair addressed the viral clip of Sanders calling out Grossi.
Johnson, also known as ‘Ocho’ liked what he saw from the 23-year-old Browns rookie.
“That’s dope,” he said. “I like it because most of the time most interactions like that, that’s not how they go when it comes to the players.
“Most of the time when it comes to a beat reporter who has been established for that long, as a Cleveland beat reporter, when it comes to saying something negative, most of the time the player challenges him in that manner because you never say anything positive.
“I can just imagine, I haven’t even read anything in the article and I can just imagine if the rest of the world has been somewhat negative towards Shedeur, I could imagine what the person, who’s in-house that sees him everyday, writes.
“So the fact that they were able to do it with a smile, with class, with grace, and understand that…obviously the dude has a job to do. You understand how to get the views.
“You have to understand that negativity will create traction, click bait, ‘How can I get people to read what I’m writing?’ Well, you talk negative about the biggest thing going on now in Cleveland outside of LeBron James when he was there. Right now, it’s Shedeur Sanders.”
Sharpe interjected and read a quote that NFL insider Robert Littal had written on X (formerly Twitter) in response to the viral clip, in which he praised the rookie for standing on business.
“Grossi has been like this for 30 years,” Littal tweeted. “Baker (Mayfield) couldn’t handle it. Shedeur disarmed him in 60 seconds and changed his energy. That’s a gift not all people have for negative people.”
Who will start at QB for the Browns?
Sanders is currently engaged in a five-way battle to be the Browns’ starting quarterback, following the signing of veteran Tyler Huntley during training camp.
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However, the son of NFL legend Deion has a huge amount of ground to make up after being listed as the fourth-string quarterback on the Browns’ first depth chart, behind veteran — and favorite for the starting job — Joe Flacco, Kenny Pickett, and third-round NFL Draft pick, Dillon Gabriel.
However, he has already begun to make some strides following Pickett’s unfortunate hamstring injury, which occurred during the first week of training camp.
Whether it will really make a difference, though, is debated, as many around the league are arguing that Sanders is being set up to fail by those within the organization.
This theory has only been strengthened after comments were made by owner Jimmy Haslam in which he firmly distanced himself from the team’s choice to draft the former Buffaloes standout, albeit with him being picked up with their final draft pick in the fifth-round after an all-time slide.
But after a strong showing on Friday night, head coach Kevin Stefanski and his team face even more headaches over who will wind up being the starting quarterback for a franchise who have spent years looking for a player who can overhaul their franchise.
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