The Browns quarterbacks’ stats were tracked during Wednesday’s OTAs session and a certain polarizing fifth-round draft selection had some eye-popping numbers.
In a graphic posted to X by ESPN Cleveland, Shedeur Sanders looked to have had far and away the best session Wednesday — an efficient 7-of-9 with a team-leading three touchdowns.
But Sanders’ numbers lacked crucial context: he did not participate in any 11-on-11 drills.
While he still certainly had himself a nice day, Sanders only took 7-on-7 reps whereas the 11-on-11 drills were split between Joe Flacco, Kenny Pickett and fellow 2025 draft pick Dillon Gabriel.
On Thursday’s episode of the “Orange and Brown Talk” podcast, hosts Dan Labbe, Mary Kay Cabot and Ashley Bastock discussed the misrepresentation of the OTAs stats.
“Shedeur Sanders, as we so aptly told everybody yesterday, did not take one rep in 11-on-11s,” Cabot said. “He has to come in here as the fourth-string quarterback and work his way up that depth chart. So, he did not take a team rep. He did not have Mason Graham in his face yesterday at all.”
Sanders, and any other quarterback, will have a better performance without a defensive line putting any pressure on him in a 7-on-7 setting.
“There’s just no real context to those numbers either in that graphic,” Bastock added. “Basically what you’re saying, one guy, Shedeur, was not in 11-on-11s at all. The other guy’s numbers, I would assume, but I don’t know for sure, include their 11-on-11 numbers.”
The crew emphasized the importance of this context, as social media was a bit set ablaze upon seeing Sanders one-up the rest of the Cleveland quarterback room by such a wide margin.
“The thing took on a life of its own,” Labbe said. “Everybody’s picking up on this and everybody’s talking about it and it’s showing up on national TV shows and people were seeing major media outlets tweet it and put it on their socials and all of that.”
While it’s true that all drills aren’t created equally, Sanders did go out and do what he needed to Wednesday — whether the stats are a bit misleading or not.
“This is the celebrity, this is the world of Shedeur Sanders,” Labbe said. “He didn’t do anything wrong. He just showed up and practiced. But the rest of the world has run with these OTA stats.”
