1st and Goal: Shedeur Sanders reports arm soreness, sits out team drills
The most popular quarterback in Cleveland this summer, Shedeur Sanders, told coaches Friday that his arm was sore from throwing. The coaches decided to have him sit out the rest of practice. The news got a lot of Browns fans nervous over the weekend. The team has a preseason game on Friday against the Carolina Panthers.
Thus, the timing of this unexpected news has everyone following the team trying to wrap their heads around what to expect this week in regard to the star rookie quarterback.
If I were a betting man, he’d likely continue to be shut down from throwing the ball short-term, and I wouldn’t expect to see him play in the game on Friday. Long-term, it’s better to be cautious with him, especially if the team plans on playing him during the regular season.
Photo via Imagn Images
2nd and Goal: Quarterback competition all but over
With the news of Sander’s arm soreness and the recent sidelining of other quarterback Kenny Pickett because of a hamstring injury, the competition among them and Joe Flacco and Dillon Gabriel is all but over.
The 40-year-old Flacco looks to start the season, and Gabriel is being thrust into the backup role, considering how much the coaches are having Gabriel go against the first team defense in practice and the reps they are giving him.
Despite not impressing much in these practices, the team seems to have made up its mind on the order of things to come as the season begins.
Pickett would make the most sense backing up Flacco, but I believe the Browns are likely to try to trade Pickett or release him by the start of the season.
This would leave Flacco and the two rookies on the final roster.
While I think Sanders is head and shoulders above a better quarterback than Gabriel, the Browns are hellbent on giving Gabriel a better chance at playing early this season.
Photo via Imagn Images
3rd and Goal: Cornerback Martin Emerson out for season with Achilles tear
The fourth-year vet, who was entering his contract season, suffered a devastating Achilles tear injury earlier in the week and won’t play this season. That will likely put Greg Newsome in the outside cornerback slot. But he also aggravated his shoulder late in the week, too, and could miss some time. This leaves this position on the team pretty thin. Denzel Ward will be the other outside corner. But who will be the inside corner? Cameron Mitchell, Myles Harden and Chigozie Anusiem will have their opportunities.
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4th and Goal: Preseason starts in Carolina on Friday
The Browns play the Carolina Panthers on Friday, August 8th, in Charlotte. The Panthers’ coach Dave Canales plans on playing his starters to start the game. Cleveland’s head coach, Kevin Stefanski, hasn’t shared his plan on who he’s going to play.
If we follow his patterns from the past, he won’t play the starters. I hope he changes his mind and plays his starters. The Carolina coach talks of the importance of playing your starters so that they can get used to playing the real games later. The routines and mindsets of the players get better prepared if they play now in the preseason.
I believe Stefanski is making the wrong move by not playing starters if that ends up being the case for the game on Friday.
I know the lazy argument to that is that you risk your starters getting injured, and my argument back is, so what, they are football players, and maybe they need to change things up. Obviously, the previous preseason routines haven’t done much good for Stefanski when it comes to regular-season success.
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