Shedeur Sanders Could Be Traded Before He Ever Plays
NFL insider Tony Rizzo doesn’t expect Shedeur Sanders to last the entire season with the Cleveland Browns.
Cleveland took Sanders in the fifth round, and he has been the emergency third-string quarterback to begin the season. With Sanders not seeing the field and also being behind rookie Dillon Gabriel, his path to playing time is murky.
With that, Browns insider Tony Rizzo expects Cleveland to trade Sanders before the trade deadline to get an asset back.
“I don’t (think Sanders plays this season),” Rizzo said on
Although the Browns just drafted him, perhaps Cleveland would flip Sanders for an asset if they don’t feel like he will contribute to playing time.
Rizzo believes a team could trade a mid-round pick for Sanders to add depth to the quarterback room, especially if there is an injury.
But, given that Sanders fell in the draft, it’s uncertain if another team would be interested in trading for him this season.
Sanders Believes He Can Play Right Now
Sanders has yet to get into NFL game action this season, but he’s confident he can play.
The rookie quarterback is confident in his skills, as he believes he is better than some starting quarterbacks right now.
“I know for sure, I know if you see the quarterback play in the league right now, I know I’m capable of doing better than that,” Sanders
Although Sanders is third on the quarterback depth chart, he says he isn’t thinking about that. Instead, he’s just focusing on getting better so when the time comes, he is prepared.
“I don’t think playing or not playing is in my hands,” Sanders said. “If things happen, things pan out where I play, then I’ll be out there and I’ll be ready to play. I’m ready to play right now.”
Sanders was selected 144th overall.
Browns Confident in Flacco
Despite Cleveland’s offensive struggles, the Browns are remaining with Flacco as the starting quarterback.
Ahead of Week 4, Browns offensive coordinator Tommy Rees remains confident in the veteran. But, he knows Flacco needs to get more comfortable with the offense to truly take it to the next level.
“Just got to get him comfortable, like, probably felt comfortable early a couple weeks ago. Haven’t been able to get back into rhythm again,” Rees said. “Our job as coach is to get him feeling comfortable and confident and, we’ve been working at that. He’s not a guy that gets real up and down, so you wouldn’t sense any of that, but just in the course of the game, allowing him to feel confident that he can rip it and really that’s our job as coaching staff to make sure that we get him there.”
Flacco has thrown for 631 yards, 2 touchdowns, and 4 interceptions.
Texans’ Offensive Collapse Drags Stroud Down in Latest QB Rankings
After three straight offensive duds for the Houston Texans, the initial shades of doubt have effectively begun to creep in around quarterback C.J. Stroud.
The Texans have been the lowest-scoring offense throughout the NFL within three weeks of action. This offense has also resulted in the worst third-down effectiveness, ranking in the bottom-ten within both passing and rushing yards on the year, and find themselves within the bottom-five in EPA/play.
It's a nightmarish start to the year for the Texans offensively, and as a result, Stroud has begun to face a bit of heavy criticism and even has some disrespect coming his way.
NFL.com's Nick Shook recently broke down a ranking of each starting quarterback in the league through the initial three showings of the year, stacking up every talent from best to worst based on their initial sample size.
And for Stroud, he found himself all the way at number 25, residing in the fourth tier of quarterbacks, with a wild list of names sitting ahead of him.
"Houston is failing C.J. Stroud at a rate that almost seems criminal," Shook wrote. "The Texans can't protect him consistently or establish a reliable running game, their play-calling rhythm is poor and Stroud is expected to bail them out far too often. Predictably, he's falling short of that mark in a situation that is growing uglier with each week."
Of those names residing ahead of Stroud is including, but not limited to, all three other AFC South starters, backups Mac Jones (21) and Marcus Mariota (18), and the one pick ahead of Stroud in the 2023 NFL Draft, Bryce Young (24).
A brutal beginning stretch for Stroud and this offense as a whole, that now finds the Texans in an 0-3 deficit in the standings, while Houston's quarterback will be faced with doubters to prove wrong in the process.
Thankfully, a Week 4 vs. the Texans' division rival Tennessee Titans, provides a chance for Stroud and this offense to get back on its feet, and thus, start the climb back to the top of the AFC South with their first win on the board.
But, if Stroud and his surrounding unit continue to show signs of growing pains, still aren't on the same page, and falter once mire, then the chatter will start to get ugly surrounding this Texans roster.
