Shedeur Sanders turned heads when he went from a quarterback into a mime on Wednesday.
Now, the reason behind the viral moment has been explained.
ESPN’s Adam Schefter, citing team officials, reported that Sanders mouthed — but did not say anything out loud — his answers to reporters in response to comments made by ex-Jets head coach Rex Ryan earlier in the week on the Worldwide Leader.
Ryan, on the topic of a potential Browns quarterback change on Monday’s “Get Up,” said Sanders has been an “embarrassment.”
Sanders slipped into the fifth round of the 2025 NFL Draft despite some pundits who believed he could have gone as high as the first overall pick.
The son of Pro Football Hall of Famer Deion Sanders said last week on ESPN Cleveland that he believes he has all the talent in the world to play in the NFL right now.
“If you see the quarterback play in the league right now, I know I’m capable of doing better than that,” Sanders said then.
Ryan called out Sanders for those comments.
“Something’s missing with this kid. This kid talks and he runs his mouth. Like he said, ‘I can be a starting quarterback’ with his arms crossed like this,” Ryan said. “Get your ass in the front row and study and do all that. If I know, the whole league knows. Quit being an embarrassment that way. You’ve got the talent to be the quarterback — you should be. You should be embarrassed that you’re not the quarterback now.”
Cleveland, now 1-3 on the season, is making a change at quarterback for Sunday’s game against the Vikings. But Sanders — the No. 3 — will not see his status change.
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Fellow rookie Dillon Gabriel is now set to start with veteran Joe Flacco, who had been QB1, set to be his backup.
After the Browns made the call official on Wednesday, Sanders continually mouthed his answers like a mime.
When asked about the decision to make Flacco the backup and not promote Sanders, head coach Kevin Stefanski mostly sidestepped the issue.
“Yeah, my focus is on this game. Joe is the two,” Stefanski said.