Shedeur Sanders’ NFL debut wasn’t exactly the stuff of dreams. A popular take among fans who believe the rookie was thrown to the wolves was his noninvolvement during team practice ahead of the game. Sanders’ unexpected third-quarter debut came at the cost of Browns quarterback Dillon Gabriel’s exit. And now, he’s poised for his first NFL start on Sunday. But is overlooking a backup QB a league-wide phenomenon, or did HC Kevin Stefanski drop the ball? A former backup quarterback let fans in on what goes on behind the scenes.

Playing for the Falcons and Bills, among other teams, Ben DiNucci knows what it’s like to wait his turn for that starting role. A round 7 pick for the Cowboys in 2020, he reflected on his time in the league as a backup player. The former QB’s experiences corroborated the narrative surrounding Shedeur Sanders in the lead-up to his debut. 

“. . . people assume everybody [the starters and backups] is getting the same equal opportunities during practice,” he stated in a snippet from Ross Tucker’s podcast.

“First time I ever threw a ball to Amari Cooper, CeeDee Lamb, Michael Gallup was the Wednesday before the Sunday night game couple years ago,” DiNucci said. “If you aren’t the starter, you aren’t getting practice reps. It’s just how the NFL works.”

DiNucci explained that the number of reps delegated to quarterbacks during practice follows a strict hierarchy, with the starters receiving nearly all of them, leaving backups to survive on mental reps. He also reiterated that this is a league-wide standard, not an exception isolated to Cleveland. To illustrate how extreme the imbalance can become, DiNucci pointed back to the COVID-year stretch when Dak Prescott and Andy Dalton went down within a ten-day window, preventing the Cowboys from signing additional help.

With Mondays and Tuesdays off and only two full practices (Wednesday and Thursday) before walkthroughs, that Wednesday became the first live session he ever had with the very receivers he would start with that Sunday.

Tucker’s conversation further underscored the math behind the hierarchy: an NFL practice typically contains only about 40–50 total reps, nearly all of which go to QB1. If a period includes ten plays, the starter may take eight, the backup two, and the third-stringer none at all. DiNucci summed up the experience bluntly; backups are often “sitting back there with [their] arms crossed,” taking mental reps while watching the operation unfold.

That league-wide practice pattern, as described by DiNucci, provides context that could mitigate immediate coaching blame; however, it does not, by itself, determine whether Stefanski’s decisions were the correct calls for Cleveland.

Shedeur Sanders and Kevin Stefanski have bigger fish to fry

Salvaging the Cleveland Browns’ season might prove to be a fool’s errand. In the last game, they suffered a harsh blow, losing 23-16 to the Ravens. Currently, the Browns sit at a dismal 2-8, and HC Stefanski might be fighting to keep his position. But that’s not all there is to the Browns’ troubles.

If a not-so-stellar debut summary of two sacks, one interception, and completing only 4 of his 16 passes wasn’t enough, Shedeur Sanders added burglary to his long list of woes this week. According to reports, the QB’s home in Cleveland was broken into during the Browns-Ravens game on Sunday. A statement from local authorities estimates a theft of $200,000 in stolen property.

While the joy of making his NFL debut may have been eclipsed by the break-in, alongside an underwhelming performance on the field, Sanders could still have an opportunity to prove his mettle this Sunday. The Cleveland Browns will take on the Las Vegas Raiders, a team that hasn’t been performing all that well either. 

In his first game as QB1, Sanders will have to project a picture of unwavering confidence. There’s no room for sloppy errors, especially when opportunities to prove himself are seemingly scarce. With Dillon Gabriel’s impending release from concussion protocol hanging overhead, can the rookie prove his critics wrong?