Even Kurt Warner saw what was plainfully obvious - Shedeur Sanders was not given a fair shake in the final preseason game.
The Hall of Fame quarterback was an interested observer of the final week of preseason and, from what he saw, Sanders wasn't given the opportunity to make plays or showcase his skills behind a group of players that will likely find out this week that they are going to go pro in something other than sports.
I was really looking forward to the competition between Dillon Gabriel & Shedeur Sanders in last preseason game, I know it plays out like this sometimes, but a bummer that both didn’t have the same opps to make plays! DG played well again but had good opps to make plays, SS…
— Kurt Warner (@kurt13warner) August 24, 2025
Naturally, the backlash to this was what you would expect from a legion of people that don't like Sanders for whatever reason. And, of course, when given the opportunity to explain quarterback play to a guy that has set franchise passing records for two NFL teams, a two-time All-Pro, former two-time NFL MVP, former Super Bowl MVP and four-time Pro Bowler, the "X' users just couldn't help themselves.
It does bear mentioning that Warner has forgotten more about football over the past weekend than all the clowns responding to him will ever know collectively. But that won't stop anyone from suggesting that Warner doesn't know what he's talking about.
And, as Warner said, there wasn't a suggestion of sabotage or any foul play on his part. He simply wanted to see Sanders have the same opportunity to make plays as Gabriel did so that there could be an accurate evaluation of both young players.
NOPE… not what I said! All I said was in 3rd game I was hoping to see both guys have similar opps to make plays and give me a better assessment!!! (But they have had all camp to make that assessment, I just wanted it selfishly in this 3rd game) https://t.co/OlueileB2H
— Kurt Warner (@kurt13warner) August 24, 2025
Browns ready to stash Shedeur for the season?
It looks like the Browns are going to keep four quarterbacks on the roster unless they decide to trade Kenny Pickett before the August 27 deadline to trim rosters to 53 men.
If Sanders is kept on the 53-man roster, he'll surely be the No. 4 quarterback and spend the season on the inactive list. Honestly, the idea of Sanders taking a redshirt is a very good one if the organization he played for had a plan and proved to be functional. But this is the Browns. They have no plan and Kevin Stefanski is probably just coaching for his job and isn't concerned with any sort of long-term thinking.
Joe Flacco, the likely Browns starter, actually had the best explanation for what happened this past weekend, proving that he's probably more capable of being the head coach right now.
"That's part of being a rookie. You're going to get thrown into situations that maybe you don't think are ideal," Flacco said. "It's part of what makes a football player, is learning how to deal with those situations and learn from them."