Rams proposed as hypothetical trade team for Shedeur Sanders
You know a team’s fanbase is despondent when the writers are already proposing trade ideas for quarterbacks before they’ve even reached their first training camp. In a rather strange post for the Browns blog Dawg Pound Daily, writer Mark Sipos proposed the best trade fits for every Cleveland quarterback. In getting to divisive fifth round rookie Shedeur Sanders, son of NFL Hall of Famer Deion Sanders, Sipos saw the L.A. Rams as the best fit if he were to be traded:
Los Angeles Rams: Matthew Stafford is still capable, but the Rams don’t have a clear succession plan. Sanders could sit behind him, learn the nuances of Sean McVay’s system, and grow into a potential starter down the line. His timing-based game and quick release would fit the scheme, and there’d be no pressure to play early.
It would be inaccurate, or at best misleading, to say that Sanders is anywhere on the Browns depth chart heading into training camp. Although coaches may have some idea of where they will slot in going into the first camp practices, Cleveland has a wide open race to the finishing line between four quarterbacks and that doesn’t even include Deshaun Watson, who is injured:
- Veteran Joe Flacco
- Fourth-year QB Kenny Pickett
- Third round rookie Dillon Gabriel
- Fifth round rookie Sanders
Although it is unlikely that Sanders will win the starting job over the other three, he could be second, third, or fourth. He could be traded, he could be waived, he could even make it onto the practice squad. At this point, Sanders is nothing more than a famous name.
All 32 NFL teams passed on Shedeur Sanders in the draft for more than four rounds. There is less space separating Sanders from the last pick in the draft than there is from pick 144 and the first pick of the draft.
In other words, there wasn’t much interest in him in April, so there isn’t likely to be much interest in him in August and September if he’s not good enough to make THE CLEVELAND BROWNS.
If anything, Sanders on the trade block would indicate that his value has cratered even further since the draft. He might just be a Browns practice squad candidate by then.
On the flipside, if Sanders impresses Browns coaches at all between now and final cuts, Cleveland would only be motivated to keep him. It is illogical that Shedeur Sanders could be traded for anything more than some meaningless seventh round pick swap:
- Good enough to stay in Cleveland: He won’t be traded
- Bad enough to not be wanted in Cleveland: Browns won’t find any takers
So while it is true that the Browns have some decisions to make with four quarterbacks likely competing for three spots, and Sanders potentially being in last place right now, we’ve already found out that NFL teams aren’t as interested in tying themselves to the eighth-place Heisman finisher as the media told us they were pre-draft.
If the L.A. Rams still need to find a successor to Stafford, and we shouldn’t be convinced that Sean McVay has ruled out Jimmy Garoppolo from being that quarterback for at least a couple of seasons, there’s no reason to believe that the answer is another team’s fifth round quarterback that Les Snead passed on at least four times in the draft.