Mitch Schwartz on Shedeur Sanders: I think he’s becoming a distraction for the organization

Super Bowl winner and former Cleveland Brown Mitch Schwartz slammed the Browns’ handling of the Shedeur Sanders situation.

After five defeats in their last six games, pressure continues to mount on current starting quarterback, Dillon Gabriel, while Sanders remains benched.

The former Colorado Buffaloes QB has made headlines for well over 12 months now; from speculation around him being the no.1 draft pick, to eventually shocking the NFL world by dropping to the fifth round and becoming a Cleveland Brown.

Mitch Schwartz was drafted by Cleveland, spending four seasons there before moving to Kansas City. Speaking about Sanders and the QB situation, he said:

“It’s been an odd situation, to say the least.

“I know there’s been some moments where it’s looked like things aren’t going the way he wants them to go. I didn’t watch too much of him in college, but I know there’s some stuff that he does really well.

“There are also things out there which suggested that he wasn’t going to do as well in the NFL. I don’t think the hype in the media helps him, the fact that we’re talking about him right now.

“Teams don’t like having guys who aren’t necessarily playing or earning the right to be talked about that much or to be asked about that much. It can cause a bit of distraction.

“It’s those situations when you’re an offensive lineman for example, suddenly you’re getting interviewed on a Thursday after a long practice, and they’re asking you about the third string quarterback. To you, that’s annoying. It’s not something you want to talk about. It’s not something you feel like you need to address or discuss.

“That’s what a distraction feels like. You don’t want to go in the locker room or be around the reporters because you’re going to be asked about it.

“So when you are the backup or the third string and you bring that into an organization, and you could say he’s asked for a lot of it based on marketing himself the way he has, the way his father has, putting himself out there, having the videos and the shows and the endorsements.

“I don’t think you could say that he doesn’t want the attention. He clearly does and clearly likes it. He likes the money he earned in college, and the money he’s earning from it now.

“It’s just in the NFL, that only flies so much if you’re not producing on the field. We’ll see if he gets his chance. I think he, based on what we’ve seen in the last few weeks out of Gabriel, will get that chance, and we’ll see what he can do with it. Hopefully, he’s prepared.”

The Browns cut ties with Joe Flacco earlier in the season, trading him to rivals, the Cincinnati Bengals.

Much has been made of the Browns and their woes at quarterback; Baker Mayfield, once a starter in Cleveland, is one of the MVP favorites this season.

When asked if the Browns should have ever traded Mayfield away, Schwartz replied:

“I don’t see that as being as big of a mistake as some people are making it out to be.

“It wasn’t that Baker went straight from Cleveland into what he is right now. I don’t know what happened with Odell Beckham Jr, but clearly, something was wrong with that relationship and someone needed to move on.

“Baker has always had this personality. He even said a few weeks ago, when you’re playing well, they love it. When you’re not playing well, they don’t. He wasn’t playing this good back then.

“In his last season at the Browns, he was definitely injured, and he was trying push through for his guys. Maybe it wasn’t the right decision to be out there, but he wasn’t performing on the field, and it’s a performance game. If you’re not able to perform the way you want, then you shouldn’t be out there. You shouldn’t be fighting through an injury just to be out there and not perform.

“Then he goes to Carolina, and they play Cleveland in week one, and he makes those shirts about how he’s released from the cage or whatever it was, anti-Browns, anti ‘dawg pound’ type of thing. Then they lose to Cleveland in Week One.

“Halfway through the season, he gets cut there. So clearly, things weren’t going well for him to get cut from Carolina. Then he shows up to the Rams, has that great game like two days after he signs, and even after that, he signs in Tampa for a mid to low-level deal and has a pretty good first year, but not amazing.

“He’s not being talked about as an MVP or anything, but gets to Tampa, has an awesome offensive line, awesome wide receiver room. He’s worked with two offensive coordinators now who have become head coaches because of how good they did there.

“He’s had a lot of learning to do, a lot of growing to do, a lot of maturing to do. I don’t think you can look at it and say ‘this is what you could have had’, because the situation in Cleveland has never been as good as he’s had it in Tampa.

“I think he really needed that year where he was in Carolina and Los Angeles to maybe get humbled a little bit, to learn from Stafford and McVay, two amazing leaders, and two great guys in what they do, and then to get to a great situation in Tampa, learn from good offensive coordinators, and continue to grow as a person and player.

“I don’t think it was as big of a mistake as people are suggesting because it’s been four years since that happened, and a lot has happened. Baker has done a great job to learn from his experiences, continuing to grow, as a person and a player, and becoming a legitimate MVP candidate based on how he’s played so far this year.”

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