Browns' Shedeur Sanders Speaks Out About Current Status

Cleveland Browns minicamp has given fans and analysts the opportunity to get their first look at the team's quarterback battle between Joe Flacco, Kenny Pickett, Dillon Gabriel and Shedeur Sanders. While both of the rookies have shown flashes so far and made several highlight plays, they seem to be lagging behind the veterans in terms of how many reps they receive.

Sanders was asked about his snap count during the early stages of minicamp and responded by speaking about his mindset. The fifth-round pick said he's valuing every experience he gets and looking forward to the light at the end of the tunnel, rather than the lack of reps he's getting right now. Sanders emphasized staying prepared for when his time does come and being grateful for every challenge.

"My goal is to be the best teammate and to be as positive as I can be," Sanders said after Tuesday's practice. "I view things as 'I've got time.' I've got time to be able to grow and mature, and to understand the ins and outs of the defenses, and to get the good insight from the vets in the room. I look at it as a plus, like I've got time to really have a great understanding, and whenever it's time for me to play, it's time for me to play. I'm not looking too far in the future, I'm looking at every day in practice... I'm focused on the small things, and over time, the big things will happen."

Sanders said he had some misses in practice that he looked forward to correcting. In particular, the rookie passer is aiming to get in and out of his dropbacks quicker while also improving at reading a defense. Despite receiving fewer reps than the quarterbacks ahead of him, Sanders' mentality seems not to be one of feeling sorry for himself, but rather to work harder and climb the Browns' depth chart.

"Life is just based on how you view different things," Sanders said. "You can view things as 'you're not getting reps' in a negative way, or you can view it as, 'when it's my time to get out there, let's be proactive, let's get warm, let's get going,' so there's no excuses. When you get out there, nobody cares how many reps you got. When you get in a game, nobody cares if you took a snap before [someone else]. Everybody cares about production, so that's the main thing. When you get out there, you've got to be able to produce."

It'll be an uphill battle for Sanders to earn the starting job over Flacco, Pickett or Gabriel. While only time will tell if his talent is starting-caliber or not, Sanders' mindset appears to be heading in the right direction as he fights for playing time in Cleveland.