Shedeur Sanders angers fans and loses the plot with immature interaction

The Cleveland Browns decided to make the ultimate switch Wednesday morning. Joe Flacco is headed to the bench and Dillon Gabriel is in as the starter. Normally, that would be the end of the quarterback conversation for now. Yet things are different when Shedeur Sanders is part of the equation as well.

Sanders did not get passed up for the job, as Gabriel has been ahead of him since Day 1. That is why it has been so bizarre to see Sanders continually speaking with the media, given his status as QB3. He recently mentioned he was ready to play now, only to get roasted for his opinion on national television by Rex Ryan. Many others had negative takes as well.

That likely explains why the rookie went full mime when speaking with the media today following the news of Gabriel becoming the starter.

Browns rookie Shedeur Sanders only pantomimed answers to questions about the QB change and his role as QB3. pic.twitter.com/YmXjvj6YYc
— 𝚂𝚙𝚎𝚗𝚌𝚎𝚛 𝙶𝚎𝚛𝚖𝚊𝚗 (@Spencito_) October 1, 2025

Let's try to look at this objectively. Is this truly a big deal? Not really. But should he know better? Yeah, he probably should.

Sanders could have just answered the questions with boilerplate responses, moved on, and got back to work. Instead, this reaction created a whole new story and will surely be picked apart once the national media gets wind of what he did. So in the end, it probably wasn't worth it, especially if the replies on social media are any indication of the sentiment toward his comments.

Sanders is a rookie and has to be frustrated with how he has been portrayed. But this doesn't help his case at all and can only come across negatively in the world of sports coverage. He has created a whole new talking point centered around immaturity and there is no real explanation that would suffice other than it was a silly thing to do. Ultimately, he has not earned the right to act like this with the media in the NFL.

This is something where the Browns' public relations staff may want to step in and have a conversation with him. He is under an immense spotlight, more than any other QB3 in recent memory, and it would be best to have boring responses as opposed to controversial, or even silent, ones.

The silent treatment from Sanders should blow over as a story very soon. However, Kevin Stefanski and his staff can't be too pleased when a backup is causing headlines for a team already off to a difficult 1-3 start.