Much debate has occurred since the end of the Cleveland Browns’ NFL season about whether or not this team would continue to rely upon young quarterback Shedeur Sanders as their starter.
Some believe the team would continue to use him as QB1 until new head coach Todd Monken decided otherwise for the offense, and, at worst, the team would have a bad enough season to draft an even better player at the position.
However, over the past several weeks, the Cleveland Plain Dealer’s Mary Kay Cabot reported that veteran Deshaun Watson had overtaken Sanders as the team’s choice, due to his performance at the team’s early minicamps.
And on Thursday, teams unveiled their clever, creative NFL schedule release videos for the upcoming season, with the Browns using a retro-style video-game promotion set in an arcade.
It used the popular video game “Street Fighter,” but calls it “Street Fighter CLE,” with Browns players as selectable fighters taking on various characters based on the teams they’ll play. Defensive Player of the Year Myles Garrett and quarterback Shedeur Sanders are among the individuals depicted as video game characters.
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There’s even a corny exchange in there with a person playing the arcade game saying they lost their quarter and another guy telling him, “It’s the bye week, it does that once a year.”
“I want my quarter back,” the player whines, before receiving the response, “Sorry, Shedeur’s off this week.”
In another part of the video, Sanders is fighting a Steelers opponent in Week 4. All of that fake video game footage was more than enough for fans reacting to the video to praise him as this season’s starter.
“Qb1 is sheduer let’s goooooo! I gotta get me some tickets to Cleveland for panthers! It won’t be so cold,” one fan replied on the video.
Another wrote: “Shedeur plastered all over this video but some people don’t want to believe he’s our QB1 🤣🤣.”
“Shedeur confirmed QB1? 1:26,” someone wrote regarding the joke about wanting a “quarter back” for the bye week.
Others commented: “Looks like Shedeur is part of the plan,” and “Shedeur as the main QB on schedule release.”
While other commenters suggested they weren’t fans of this particular release video, multiple individuals felt strongly about the video promoting Sanders as this season’s starter. He went 3-4 as a starter for the Browns, who finished 5-12 and last in the AFC North.
The team still has to begin OTA workouts, followed by voluntary minicamps and training camp, for the quarterback competition to unfold. That gives Sanders plenty of time to prove he’s still deserving of the role he took over when Dillon Gabriel was knocked out of the lineup last season.
And as mentioned, the team fully realizes that if they aren’t able to contend this coming season, multiple talented quarterbacks are available in the 2027 NFL Draft class, including Arch Manning, Dante Moore, and CJ Carr.
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