Cleveland Browns quarterback Shedeur Sanders pulled a petty move on Wednesday with what appeared to be an attempt to send a message to the media.
The Browns announced on Wednesday that they have benched Joe Flacco in favor of rookie Dillon Gabriel for their Week 5 game against the Minnesota Vikings. Flacco will be the primary backup behind Gabriel, which means Sanders remains third on Cleveland’s depth chart.
Naturally, reporters wanted to get Sanders’ thoughts on the QB change. Rather than answering questions about it, Sanders mouthed all of his responses and did not speak any actual words.
Browns rookie Shedeur Sanders only pantomimed answers to questions about the QB change and his role as QB3. pic.twitter.com/YmXjvj6YYc
— 𝚂𝚙𝚎𝚗𝚌𝚎𝚛 𝙶𝚎𝚛𝚖𝚊𝚗 (@Spencito_) October 1, 2025
Sanders is likely upset with the media after one of his responses to a recent question resulted in some criticism. He was asked last week about a comment his father Deion made on the “New Heights” podcast, when the Colorado coach said he has never sat on the bench and thought to himself, “Well, I learned a lot today.”
Though Sanders stopped short of agreeing with his dad, he did make a bold claim about how he believes he could play better than a lot of starting quarterbacks have this season.
Rex Ryan was one of the people who blasted Sanders for what the ESPN analyst perceived as arrogance. Sanders’ mother, Pilar Sanders, then unloaded on Ryan in a social media post that she quickly deleted.
Sanders seemed like he was making the point that his words were twisted, so he would rather say no words at all. Ironically, he has called even more attention to himself with the way he chose to showcase his frustration.
