The Cleveland Browns escaped Week 3 of the preseason with a 19-17 victory over the Los Angeles Rams on Saturday to wrap up the preseason with a 3-0 record and close the book on their final dress rehearsal before Week 1 of the regular season.
While Joe Flacco and Dillon Gabriel put up strong numbers and led the team on a pair of touchdown drives, head coach Kevin Stefanski’s handling of another quarterback has received a lot of pushback since the game ended.
Emory Hunt of CBS Sports ripped Stefanski after the game for not letting Sanders finish the game and for not putting him in the best position to succeed, even calling out Stefanski for how he handled the whole situation.
“At the end of the day, you gotta give this kid a shot to redeem himself. Kevin Stefanski handled that situation and this whole competition horribly. You removed an opportunity for him to redeem himself in that situation,” Hunt said.
"I blame [Kevin] Stefanksi for how he's handled this whole situation."@FBallGameplan on Kevin Stefanski not allowing Shedeur Sanders to 'redeem himself' against the Rams. pic.twitter.com/tZl5Sf8nCB
— NFL on CBS 🏈 (@NFLonCBS) August 24, 2025
There is a lot to unpack here.
Sanders got all the praise in the world when he lit up the Carolina Panthers for 138 yards and a pair of touchdowns in the preseason opener, yet after Saturday’s game, where he went 3-for-6 for 14 yards while eating five sacks and giving up a fumble, the overwhelming sentiment was that Stefanski was to blame.
Stefanski is a two-time Coach of the Year and could be at risk of getting fired if he doesn’t turn things around this season.
His job is to properly evaluate the entire roster ahead of trimming the roster down to 53 ahead of Week 1, and with the way Sanders was playing, it wasn’t possible to evaluate everyone else on the field.
It gets to a point where a player can’t be blameless for a performance like this.
There were multiple clean pockets that Sanders eschewed by either floating backwards or by holding onto the ball too long and rolling to the outside to avoid minimal pressure.
He played poorly, which is fine, because he is a fifth-round rookie and he is supposed to struggle at times.
A few halves of preseason football are not nearly enough tape to make a claim that Stefanski is setting him up to fail.
This situation needs to breathe, and Sanders needs to continue his development on the bench until his number is called.
NEXT: Browns Rookie Dominated In Saturday's Preseason Finale
