Bad franchises do bad things to their players, fans and the reputation of the sports city. Think of inept franchises in NFL history. Cursed franchises who have never tasted glory because of one fumble or another. It’s the Cleveland Browns near the top of the list.
A franchise that had to overpay Deshaun Watson $230M coming off a sex scandal and few options, just for him to consider going there. A franchise who ranks near the bottom of the league in overall visibility, franchise respect and brand desirability as far as fans are concerned.
Bad Franchises Do Bad Things
The fact that they drafted Shedeur Sanders in the fifth-round and are now setting the most charismatic, talented and marketable QB on the team up for failure is typical Cleveland. The Browns are disrespected so much on a daily basis in the NFL that they needed someone to look down upon. The franchise’s treatment of the Johnny Unitas Award winner, who already has the No 1 selling jersey among all rookies, is typical Browns mismanagement.
Now that the conspiracy-inspired Shedeur Sanders draft drop is behind us, Cleveland seems to be doing its best to make sure that Shedeur is not successful in what will be a crucial first year in the NFL. While most highly-touted quarterbacks are given some time to develop and made a priority, Cleveland has decided to treat him like a scrub and mask it in this absurd theory that he will have a fair chance to impact the team in a quarterback room that’s more crowded than the Tunnel in the 90s on a night where the first 500 women get in free.
Despite this clear partnership between the owners, league, sell-out analysts and social media leeches, the actual players across the NFL have been coming to the defense of Sanders, who was also the subject of multiple rants from several draft analysts, including Mel Kiper Jr. during ESPN’s broadcast of the draft and former NFL QB RG3 in the days following the shocking draft.
Fans Call Cleveland Browns Worst Franchise Ever
The Cleveland fans, who have already spoken and let their front office know who they want as QB, have no confidence in how the suits are handling the QB room.
“Gotta give credit to the Cleveland Browns. They continuously prove why they are the dumbest and worst franchise in sports. You gotta respect it at this point,” said one fan on X.
“The Cleveland Browns are pretty easily the worst franchise in the history of American Sports at least in my lifetime. From every standpoint,” said another.
RG3 Says Cleveland Browns Dysfunction Continues
RG3, who spent some time in Cleveland as a backup near the end of his injury-plagued career, doesn’t like the way the Browns are handling Shedeur and says the situation is “set up for dysfunction.”
“They have $230 million that won’t play,” Griffin said on his X account, referring to Deshaun Watson’s bloated contract that will leave them strapped for cash over the next two seasons.
He also sees the overwhelming popularity of Sanders as a potential problem.
“Brought in 4 QBs this offseason and the last one they brought in, Shedeur Sanders, is the #1 selling jersey of all rookies despite being drafted in the 5th round after their 3rd round pick Dillon Gabriel.”
Alongside Sanders, the Browns’ quarterback room consists of former Steelers bust Kenny Pickett, 40-year-old Joe Flacco, injured Watson and third-round pick Dillon Gabriel. They will have you believe that all of these options are on an equal plane and will have an opportunity to compete. But based on draft day and Shedeur losing the No. 2 jersey that has become synonymous with his success in high school and while reconstructing college programs at Jackson State and then Colorado (He will now sport No. 12 as he begins his NFL career in Cleveland) he’s already behind the eight ball. Some see it as further blatant disrespect. A clown show even.
“Shedeur Sanders is in a situation where the NFL and the Cleveland Browns have set him up to sink or swim in year one. What I really mean by that is, they set him up to fail,” said Griffin, the sports analyst who recently inked a deal to join Fox Sports as a college game analyst.
Robert Griffin III landed a prominent new job more than eight months after he was fired by ESPN. The former Heisman Trophy will be Fox Sports’ No. 2 college football game analyst, according to reports. The 35-year-old, who also has a popular podcast, is replacing Brock Huard, who announced earlier this month he was leaving Fox to become the tight ends coach on his son’s high school football team.
Shedeur Sanders Is Allergic To Losing: He Plays Ball Not Politics
Griffin doesn’t look too much into Gabriel being drafted two rounds ahead of Shedeur.
According to RG3, “Shedeur is the headliner of the group.” “He sells tickets. He sells Jerseys. He sells confidence to his teammates who have said they can’t wait to play with him and non-teammates.”There’s been a narrative floating that unidentified coaches were turned off by Sanders’ unwillingness to participate in the draft combine and his overall attitude.
The once projected top three draft pick, was a second team All-American last season in Colorado and his slide in the draft was shocking to many. Considering it was previously reported that Sanders fell miserably short with the Giants in a private interview with coach Brian Daboll, maybe it isn’t Shedeur at all that has the problem. Maybe he’s just allergic to losing organizations, because the Giants and Browns have been walking chaos at the quarterback position, a place where QBs don’t stick around long. To be nitpicking Shedeur with the history of quarterbacks these teams have sacrificed lately is kind of crazy.
