At Colorado, Shedeur Sanders played like a man bearing a grudge with lenses always trained upon him. In 2024, he passed for 4,134 yards and 37 touchdowns and guided the Buffaloes to a 9–4 season while taking hit after hit. But it wasn’t so much the production; it was the posture. The wrist flails, the sideline scowls, the pressure-score touchdowns late in the game. Even when Colorado’s bubble burst, Shedeur’s determination didn’t. He resembled a quarterback designed for prime time: half hard-forged, half branded. Such star power was bound to shake things up in the NFL. But in Cleveland, where the margins are thin and the tolerance thinner, that luster might not give him leeway.

As per reports from NFL insider Ian Rapoport on the Dan Patrick Show, Kevin Stefanski has taken a hard line on Shedeur Sanders’ early progress. One that will drastically reduce his reps and playing time preseason. Sanders, a Day 3 draft pick, isn’t being handled like a developmental priority. There is no open competition buzz. No master plan to groom him. Rather, sources say Stefanski is quietly creating space that has Shedeur far behind the veterans (and potentially Dillon Gabriel) on the depth chart, and employing what one observer dubbed a “controlled exposure strategy” to balance media frenzy and quarterback politics.

The result? From the outside, it feels like Stefanski is “cutting the legs from under him”. By removing the early momentum that a high-profile rookie often depends on to build presence and rapport. A move like this can stall rhythm, drain confidence, and shrink the room for creative risk. In a QB room already juggling Deshaun Watson’s mega-deal and Gabriel’s camp buzz, Stefanski’s hardline approach feels less about preparing Sanders and more about preserving organizational optics.

There’s precedent for the method that Stefanski is taking. Throughout his Browns tenure, the head coach has worked on a strict hierarchy system at quarterback. When it was Case Keenum, then Jacoby Brissett, and then Watson, Stefanski seldom granted media narratives the leeway of obscuring depth chart decisions. But this isn’t about system or fit. It’s about urgency. Cleveland’s playoff-capable defense, along with the fully guaranteed $230 million invested in Deshaun Watson, has this franchise running on a win-now mandate. And Stefanski, whose own job security is riding on short-term success, is aware that building a rookie QB isn’t something he can afford to do in 2025.

Cleveland’s win-now mandate makes developmental reps a luxury

With a playoff-capable roster limping to a 3-14 season, the Browns and Stefanski, in particular, simply cannot afford another experimental year. That reality makes developmental reps for a high-profile rookie feel more like a gamble than an investment. Especially with Joe Flacco and Kenny Pickett as established names ahead of Sanders under center. Stefanski’s priority is cohesion and silence, not outside noise. Shedeur, for all his talent, comes with a spotlight that doesn’t dim quietly. Managing him carefully is less about punishment and more about eliminating distractions.

Coupled with that pressure is Cleveland’s draft equity. The Browns head into 2025 with two first-round picks on hand for next year’s Draft. If Shedeur falters or recedes into the background, the urge to bundle those draft choices and pursue a marquee quarterback will be immense. That’s not something rumored by media prognosticators inside sources such as Ian Rapoport have admitted the “nonzero percent chance” Sanders is the long-term solution, but also posited the Browns’ strategy is pragmatic. Stefanski will not be afraid to make a change.

And then of course, there’s ownership. The Browns team, despite much criticism from the media, has been fairly stable since GM Andrew Berry arrived. But the Shedeur draft created tension. Jimmy Haslam’s statement on this whole situation just complicated things. As he said, the decision to draft Shedeur was “on Andrew”. It raised eyebrows about who really wanted him in Cleveland. Was this an organization-wide decision or a GM-side gambit? Stefanski’s tone toward Shedeur in camp suggests one thing: If this gamble doesn’t pay off quickly, it won’t be on him.

In the end, Shedeur Sanders remains one of the most intriguing rookie quarterbacks of the 2025 crop. He’s a moving piece, a grown man, and a media-savvy one to boot, in ways that will appeal to the modern NFL. But if Cleveland’s strategy is to hide him, restrict him, or quiet him, they might not only be removing his legs from under him. They might be removing their own opportunity for a dynamic future.