Ryan Clark, Dan Orlovsky agree on surprising Shedeur Sanders, Dillon Gabriel take

Following the Cleveland Browns’ final preseason game, there was a large narrative surrounding Shedeur Sanders and Dillon Gabriel. ESPN’s Ryan Clarkalready dissuaded the notion that Sanders was being sabotaged but not getting fair opportunities to Gabriel and other QBs in the room.

Looking at the tape, Clark and former QB Dan Orlovsky saw the same thing: Gabriel has outplayed Sanders overall this preseason. Joe Flacco is the entrenched starter and it could be a long ladder to climb if Sanders is to play this regular season.

“If you go back to this weekend’s game, there was regression rather than progression,” Orlovsky said on Get Up. “It wasn’t perfect. The offensive line protection wasn’t great. There weren’t guys getting open left and right. But all you had to do was make the right decision, get rid of the football. We saw a lot of this stuff from Colorado, and so RC said it before more likely that everyone’s going to have to get hurt before he plays. 

“Joe Flacco is going to have to get hurt or play poorly for the next guy to get on the field. Dillon Gabriel should be the No. 2 quarterback. He’s going to have to get hurt or play poorly. Then it more than likely is going to be Kenny Pickett. So you have to go through three guys.

Orlovsky added Gabriel and Sanders’ tape has to be looked at in total context. You can’t isolate certain moments.

“Gabriel’s tape has been fantastic, and everyone points to those two bad plays, which was the pick-six and the fumble from that previous week,” Orlovsky said. “The pick-six miscommunication, the fumble’s on the quarterback. Dillon Gabriel’s tape has clearly been better than Shedeur’s.”

Former GM Mike Tannebaum went away, a little bit, from Clark and Orlovsky’s take. If Sanders is going to be in this position, he has to take advantage throughout the week.

“My glass is half full with Shedeur Sanders, because we saw him play in an NFL game and played really well,” Tannenbaum said. “He has all the physical measurables you want. So if I’m talking to Shedeur hey, we have a long horizon here, and your game day may be on Wednesday. Take advantage of it. So my glass is very much halfway full.”

Clark noted that Sanders hasn’t lived up to the pre-draft hype, depending upon who you listen to of course. But Gabriel has clearly been the better quarterback, as of now anyway.

“How many very good players for other teams weren’t the best player at their position, or couldn’t get on the field, in their room with their first team,” Clark said. “There’s so many players who end up being good players in this league, but who are you compared to the person sitting next to you? What we have is film that we could compare between Dillon Gabriel and Shedeur Sanders in this preseason. 

“And when I look at that film, Dillon Gabriel is clearly the best player, right. And I can be honest, I wanted Shedeur to be the better player, right. I wanted to be right about my pre-draft analysis. But if you look at the film, who plays on time, who plays more efficiently, who is more accurate, who seems to have a better grasp of the offense, it’s Dillon Gabriel.”

NFL insider Adam Schefter threw out Kenny Pickett as well. He’s someone who affects the QB depth chart and he could very well be back at QB2, pushing Gabriel and Sanders down further. But, Gabriel has a very realistic chance at being the backup on opening day.

“Well, Joe Flacco is going to be the starting quarterback against the Cincinnati Bengals on opening day,” Schefter said. “Kenny Pickett, the other veteran on the roster has not really played all that much, has been battling a hamstring injury, still is not back to full strength. So if Kenny Pickett is not back at full strength, that would seem to indicate that Dillon Gabriel would have a realistic chance to be the backup quarterback on opening day, depending on Pickett. I think that they would like to have Pickett be the two.”