The Cleveland Browns have an unusual four-man quarterback competition on their hands in an effort to wipe the slate clean from the Deshaun Watson era, and it’s tough to know who is the leader in the clubhouse.
Fans are starting to get excited about the possibility of one of these QBs emerging as the next franchise savior, with one quarterback recently drawing comparisons to another former late-round gem in Brock Purdy.
Cleveland.com’s Dan Labbe recently said on an episode of the Orange and Brown Talk Podcast that fifth-round rookie Shedeur Sanders makes him wonder if he can be the team’s own version of Brock Purdy.
“The name that I keep coming back to is Brock Purdy,” Labbe said. “What if Shedeur can convince these guys that he can be Brock Purdy, who for some reason is still divisive, I think among some football people on social media. But he’s a really good quarterback. He just got paid a bunch of money. He’s been to a Super bowl, probably should have won that Super Bowl. Like if Shedeur Sanders convinces me he’s Brock Purdy, who by the way wasn’t a Week 1 starter, that’s about as good an outcome as you could get from this.”
It’s impressive how high the expectations among most Browns and national media members are for Sanders, and it’s clear that Sanders falling to the 144th pick in the draft didn’t even make any of them pause and potentially re-examine their pre-draft evaluations.
Many thought he would be a top-10 pick, yet after falling to the fifth round, he is still being treated as a top-10 pick by many in the media, which isn’t going to do him any favors.
Purdy would indeed be a best-case scenario for Sanders, but again, those are outrageous expectations to place on Sanders at this point in his career.
This team is nowhere close to that San Francisco 49ers team, and the most important thing for Sanders’ development is for everyone to be patient and let him develop naturally.
There’s a reason the team is being so quiet about the quarterback competition, and it’s smart to protect Sanders from all this speculation as best as they can.
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