SHIFTING THE NARRATIVE?! 👀 Stephen A. says Shedeur Sanders deserves more RECOGNITION 🗣️ | First Take

SHIFTING THE NARRATIVE?! 👀 Stephen A. says Shedeur Sanders deserves more RECOGNITION 🗣️ | First Take

Shador Sanders, his pro football debut. I don’t ever remember a rookie that has been drafted outside of the first round, taking the league by storm. Sanders throws touchdown. Putting on a show here in the second quarter. I wasn’t nervous. It was just getting comfortable. Well, I say I’m comfortable being uncomfortable. H I’m feeling pretty comfy here. I don’t know about you guys. Adam Shfter, Dan Arloski in the building. That means football season is close. Our boy SA from the West Coast. How we feeling fellas? How’s the weekend? What’s going on? What’s going on Mollywood? How you doing? Adam Sheper. It is always an honor and a privilege to see you on the show. My brother from another mother, Dio Dan Olowski. What’s up with the high top, baby? What’s up with the high top? Talk to me. What’s up, Elvis? It’s the summer time. It’s the summer time. I don’t cut the top of my hair in the summer time. I think it looks awesome. Should I take my Jamie to the jail house? Are we going to the jail house? Go ahead, Elvis. I haven’t seen you in like 3 months and it took 3 seconds for you to start. That’s right. Something. Come on, man. Can I take Can I take my jacket off? Can I take my jacket off? Look at you. You’re allowed. You are allowed to do your game up. A little custom fit. Stephen A. Don’t hurt him. Just in case if you if you’re going to take it off, it needs to be because you believe you fly, not because you’re trying to emulate somebody who’s obviously fly. Did Stephen A jacket for you? Did he pay for that in inscription for the customade jacket? No, Stephen A has not paid for that. But I’m willing to accept a purchase. Hell no. Do we Do we want to compliment ourselves anymore before we chill out? We’re feeling good. Chill out, Gumby. I’m just wondering. We’re good. Chill out, Gumby. Everybody this morning. All right, lemon and line. All right, lemon and line. We got the message lemon. These are these are weak. I mean, can we come up with a better nickname? How quickly a narrative can shift in Shadore Sanders did just that on Friday night in his first preseason game against the Panthers. Shador went 14 to 23 for 138 yards, throwing two TD passes, zero picks, and added 19 yards on the ground, showing poise and composure. Here’s Shadore himself and his performance. I’m going be honest. I wasn’t nervous, so I would I didn’t I I didn’t really had too much adrenaline. It was just It was just getting comfortable. That’s all it is. Like I It’s plenty games before like I was nervous, but I felt like I knew I knew the answers to the test. So, it’s like when you feel unprepared then, you know, when you don’t feel like you’re ready for the moment. I know I’m ready for the moment. Did I play up to par? No, I don’t feel like I did. But overall, the main goal was to win and that’s just and that’s honestly what we did. Stephen A, he turn certainly turned some heads on Friday. What does Shador prove to you? Um, that he deserved more looks that he deserves the the consideration that some of us thought he deserved coming into the draft. I mean, five of what was it? Five or seven passes for 10 or more air yards for 93 yards on both his touchdown passes as well. give the guy a lot of credit where credit is due. He’s playing against second and third stringers. We get all of that because the Browns didn’t play their starters. Uh the Carolina Panthers are the Carolina Panthers. They’re one of the worst teams in football. And so, we’re not going to go be beside oursel about what he did against them because you have to take the opposition into consideration. But as somebody who is a Shador Sanders fan, who believed that he got screwed over during draft day or draft night rather, uh, being a 144th pick, fifth round pick, to see him go out there and make some of those requisite throws and show flashes of the the kind of potential that he has, I definitely think it was a good sign. Make no mistake about it. And I definitely think that as a result, he’s going to warrant more looks moving forward. But that’s all we could particularly we could say at this particular moment. We really can’t say more than that right now. proved to me that he’s absolutely demanding of more reps with the second and first teams against the second and first teams. I’ve been very adamant that Cleveland should start one of these rookies. I really believe that and what we saw saw from Shadore coming off of the reports in the summer, everything out of camp has been Shador had another good day. Shador has been really good. Shador was the best quarterback in camp. And then you get the opportunity to start. And if you just ask what did he he looked like comfort in total control. He played really fast. He didn’t panic. Okay. So those are all the things that you saw then his own own words he had that that smirk on his face if I felt like I had the answers to the test. That’s what it looked like. And then plays like this I would actually be most encouraged by. One of the things for Shadore coming out of the draft that I was critical of was like I don’t think he’s a ridiculous athlete. Not a high-end athlete. Kind of average. thought he made some plays with his legs that I was really impressed with. So I think that with and for me the result doesn’t matter and the opponent for me Stephen A doesn’t matter Shifty. It’s what does it look like and he looked like a guy that should be getting opportunity to say nope you’re actually not good enough. If I were the Browns he would be getting reps with the starters this week. I felt like going into the game if he played a certain way that would be the case. He should getting reps with the starters this week and he should I always say it this way. Prove to me you can’t do it. Prove to me you can’t do it. And so far he has not done that. You’re saying prove to me you can’t do it. And I think the Cleveland Browns are of the mind. Prove to me that you can do it. But he proved in one game that he could do it. So much so that they now have to give him the chance in the second preseason game to prove he can do it then. And if he goes out in the second preseason game and proves he could do it like he did it in the first preseason game, well, guess what? They’re gonna have to have him prove it in the third preseason game. And if he does it, then then we might start talking about when he’s going to prove it as a starting quarterback in the regular season. One game. Don’t want to get too excited, but in one game, he flashed. He popped. He showed he belonged. And that’s what you’re looking for early on. There aren’t a lot of rookie quarterbacks that when they step onto the field, late round draft picks, mid-round draft picks, where they flash. Russell Wilson did it back in 2012. Dak Prescott did it for the Dallas Cowboys. In one game, Shador Sanders did it. He’s got to keep doing it. But if he keeps doing it, he’s going to force conversations around that facility that they’re already starting to have. This morning, the Browns head coach, Kevin Stfansky, said he wasn’t sure yet how the quarterback rotation was going to work in the second preseason game, and they’re not going to be ready to name a starting quarterback for the regular season after the second preseason game. A lot of different things going on there. Shadore is making everybody think and the more he plays like that moving forward, the tougher these calls or really the easier the calls are going to make and the more conversations they’re going to have to have. Stephen, it’s a real moment. Um, you know, cuz I wasn’t thinking about uh whether or not they should start a rookie because obviously Joe Flacco at 40 years of age, a Super Bowl champion, highly experienced, took the Cleveland Browns to the playoffs when Deshan Deshun Watson went down a couple of years ago. It speaks for itself. But Dan makes a very valid point. Hold on to that moment, Dan. It’s rare, but you make a very, very valid point because when you’re talking about the rookies, you know, somebody like him starting for the Cleveland Browns, Flaco is really that that that that positions him to be the security blanket, which is what you brought him there for to begin with. You didn’t bring him there to lead the Browns. You brought him to be a security blanket in the event that you couldn’t find somebody else who could do it. That’s why people in Cleveland were looking at it last year. Why the hell isn’t he here last year? what the hell you let him get out the door for before you ultimately brought him back after the season he had a couple of year a couple of years ago. But I do think it’s important to bring this one nugget up. I’m looking at the average time to throw for a quarterback last year in the National Football League. Dan, correct me if I’m wrong, but I think it was like at 2.42 to 3.14 seconds if I remember correctly based on what I read. Sure. The average time that Shador Sanders had to throw the other night was 3.48 seconds. And the reality is that in the National Football League, you know this better than me, Chefy. Obviously, you do too, Dio. You ain’t gonna get that much time to throw. So, I’m saying again, the one story is that he’s deserved, he’s earned the right for further looks with the first second unit as opposed to the third unit. You are right about that. All I’m saying is as as enthusiastic as I am about him, let’s be cautiously enthusiastic from the standpoint that you’re going up against the Carolina Panthers and you had a year and a day to throw the football. That definitely played a factor. I love the fact that you brought that point up. And here would be my push back to it, Stephen. A number one, I actually thought he played fast. That was kind of a complaint of mine coming out of school was there’s moments where I wanted to play faster, not hurried and frantic because he didn’t do that. Play fast, not hurried. I actually thought he played fast. And the second thing I would say when it comes to that number that you have of the like that he played fast there. The second touchdown pass he plays fast. Part of the reason why the ball’s held a little bit more in this offense is cuz that’s the design of it. It’s a play actionbased offense. They’re trying to get some of the chunk completions down the field. So there’s moments when like this is playing fast. He moves off the pocket in a a second and a half and gets the ball out. So I would argue that I think he played faster than that number that you recited is indicative of indicative of one because of the style of the offense and then two and this is where I’m not sitting here pretending that this was flawless but there were two or three times when we saw some of the retreat runaround don’t try and do too much. So, I I think that like that’s why I’m so encouraged was he did some of that and that can’t be the calling card of his game. And so, I think that like there’s still even more opportunity for him to fix some of the stuff that might be a hiccup for him in the NFL. And Stephen A, don’t get hung up on who they’re playing, okay? This is all against backups. This is second, third, fourth, fifth strings, whether it’s the Carolina Panthers, New Orleans Saints, Tro, whoever it is, that’s irrelevant to the conversation. What’s relevant is what Shadore does. And in one game, he did all he could in that one opportunity to prove that he belongs. So much so that he now gets another opportunity to where we’re going to be expecting and looking forward to the second Browns preseason game. I don’t know the last time we were excited about a Browns preseason game where there was a big story line to emerge like this. But that’s what this is. He showed he belonged on Friday night and now we’ll get a chance the rest of the preseason starting this week to show he belongs again. Well, couple of things. Number one, we all know I’m rooting for the brother. That’s number one. Let’s get that out the way. I’m not trying to throw any shade on the performance that we saw from him. I’m just sitting up there and taking into account what critics may say and asking whether or not there’s any level of validity to what they may spew and so we can knock that down, which you guys just did. The other point that I would bring up, Dio, is okay, he played fast. He played faster. Not frenetically, not not panicky, but he played faster, which is something that you wanted to see. And because of, you know, what the Browns do schematically under Stfansky. My question would be whether or not that’s something that they can continue to do because again if you’re anybody going up against Cleveland, particularly with him, you’re going to you certainly going to get to him quicker and you have you going to make sure he has to get rid of that ball a lot quicker. So whether or not the Browns can be successful doing that, I think remains to be seen. Last point, guys, I’mma tell you why. One of the biggest things I’m hoping for right now, if this brother performs, we ain’t gonna have this conversation today, but if this brother performs, and dare we say he ends up being the starter for the Cleveland Browns, he pulls this off, there’s going to be a whole laundry list of teams that have to answer for passing up on him. And on this show right here, I’m going to have a list of them. It’s weeks away, but I’m going to have a list. I’m letting you know right now. Giving them content. Good thing we got that big screen ready for you, Stephen. today. You you you just give us the go and we’ll make it happen. Developing story here on First Take that I’m sure your wife Tiffany’s concerned about as an Eagles fan. Uh Philly Pro Bowl left guard Landon Dickerson was helped off the field and carded indoors after suffering an apparent right leg injury during the team’s open practice Sunday. The injury occurred laid into the two plus hour practice at Lincoln Financial Field. Adam, I want to start with you. What’s the latest you’re hearing on this? Well, obviously when he went off the field there last night, he could barely walk under his own weight. And his teammates took a knee, you could see how concerned they are, which was never a good sign. Now, today, he’s going to have an MRI on his knee. He was listed on the injury report on Saturday with a knee injury. He’s played all through his NFL career. Never misses time, no matter what the injury is, but he’s had a history of knee issues back in college. Now, he’s got another knee issue. He’s gonna have an MRI today. That will tell the story about how much time, if any, he’ll miss, but he certainly looks like he’s gonna miss a little bit of time at the very least. From a personal level, I hope he’s okay. Th this is this is a guy that is a massive part of their football team. So, don’t want to overreact. I think players oftent times tell you the story by reports. It seemed like the players were pretty concerned. Yeah. Concerned about what they saw and or experienced. So, personal level is okay. job level. This is enormous. This is enormous. This is one of the best guards in football. Saquon Barkley, who had that remarkable year, ran directly behind Landon Dickerson for about 500 yards untouched last year. Yeah. Over about 700 yards behind Dickerson. And if we think about Mai Beckton, who was one of the guards last year, he is now with the Los Angeles Chargers. So the internal part, the strength of the calling card of this football team is very much in question right now. And that’s why I sit there and I go, this has repeat Super Bowl impact if there is some significance to this injury. Hopefully there isn’t, but this could be very damaging to a football team that had the best offensive line in football last year and now could be down 40% of those two internal players. Well, listen. Here’s the deal. It’s a devastating blow, but if you’re ranked as the number one offensive line in the National Football League, which Pro Football Focus had the Philadelphia Eagles at entering this season, one would summize that you should be able to overcome it. That doesn’t mean it’s not a devastating loss. This doesn’t mean it’s something that can’t compromise your success to some degree. Because if you’re Jaylen Herz, if you are Saquon Barkley, obviously that offensive line had an enormous amount to do with the success you enjoyed being the reigning defending Super Bowl champions. This is an allp procalur player. We know that he just recently inked a four-year deal, $87 million uh with incentives. We know how valuable he is to the Philadelphia Eagles. So, you got to hope that ultimately he’s going to be okay. But in the same breath, even with him, even with Beckton going to the charges, it’s one of those situations where if as a unit you’re considered number one, it’s a whole you should be able to plug to some degree is all I’m saying. Saquon ain’t going to rush for 2,000 yards. Damn it. Maybe it’s only going to be 1,600 now. All right. Jaylen Herz might, you know, his protection might be compromised to such a good degree, but damn it, you got to figure it out. It’s a devastating loss. I’m not trying to sit up there and challenge that at all, Dio. I know you’re right. I’m just saying when I look at the Eagles and my expectations for them, even without Dickerson, and it’s a devastating injury, no doubt. If he’s out, I still expect them to overcome it. Dan, you you talked about Saquon, but who does it impact more? Is it Saquon or is it Jaylen Herz? And is this really something to Stephen A’s point that you can just overcome? I don’t think it’s If there’s a place that can, it’s them. This is a a factory for offensive linemen. Their offensive line coach Jeff Stoutland’s a Hall of Famer. You mentioned this morning they traded for Kenyan Green from Houston which was part of the CJ Gardner Johnson trade. He got hurt as well. So we’re I’m not going to live in the world where it’s easy. You give them the benefit of the doubt. Who does it impact the most? This team went to the Super Bowl on the backs of its run game. So my initial response would be Saquon Barkley because Saquon went to the next level because he got to the next level because the offensive line gave him the opportunity to have some of those ridiculous cuts or that burst through and some of those long touchdown runs like we see in playoff games. So initially at Saquon, there’s no question. But there’s also a subsequent part of Jaylen Herz. Jaylen for the majority of last year was like okay. He didn’t have a great season. He had a great playoff run. And one of the things that Jaylen took a step back in last year was the pocket. He would leave the pocket too much. They didn’t throw the ball over the middle of the field a ton. Mainly because I think he can’t see with a great amount of clarity. And so if the internal part of that pocket protection wise is somewhat compromised, I think I do think it have it could have a pretty significant impact on Jaylen Herz’s play. Look, this is an incredible organization. They’re very deep. They’re very well-run. But there’s no way that you can lose Mai Beckton to the Chargers and if Landon Dickerson is out at all, think that somebody can just step in and it’s not felt at all. These are the little things that you worry about when you’re a Super Bowl champion. The little vibes that they send off. Again, hopefully he’s not going to miss any extended time. The MRI will come back in a favorable way today. And again, the limited time that he misses will be enough. But you can’t lose players like Landon Dickerson, who’s been voted to the Pro Bowl three straight years. There only are a handful of offensive linemen who have that honor and not feel it in some type of way. Um, at the great Adam Shfter, I would I would beg your indulgence here so by saying to you that let let’s not switch the narrative. That that that’s my job. That’s my job. I am simply saying that if anybody can overcome it, anybody that has a chance to overcome it, it’s them. That’s all I’m saying. I’m not saying it’s not a devastating loss if he’s gone. I’m not saying they won’t feel it. I’m not saying it won’t compromise them. I’m not saying this you can’t just plug a hole like this. Ain’t that easy? But if anybody can overcome it, it’s the Eagles organization. That’s all the brothers saying. Dickerson’s pass block win rate, fourth best in the NFL since 2022. Just knows what an impact that he had. First round pick Travis Hunter saw action on offense and defense in his preseason debut playing 18 total snaps at wide receiver. Hunter recorded two catches for nine yards. He debuted at cornerback on the Steelers second offensive drive. He recorded five snaps with zero statistics aside from a missed tackle. Dan, after seeing him in live action, what’s your confidence level in Hunter playing both sides? I still think he can. I think there’s one person on the planet that probably is most equipped to answer this. That’s Charles Woodson. He was the guy that kind of was the first to do it, certainly in college. And, you know, is is it real and is he capable of it? Charles’s opinion would be significantly greater. My thought on all of this is this. Liam Cohen who’s there as their new head coach and play caller if we’re just being honest. Yes, win games, all that. Get Trevor Lawrence to play great football. Travis Hunter doesn’t get Trevor Lawrence to play great football when he plays defensive back. It helps their team and wins and deep Travis Hunter is going to play a lot of wide receiver. If I’m the Jacksonville Jaguars, Travis Hunter is playing a lot of wide receiver because it’s going to get my quarterback to play better. And so I still think he’s capable of it. He’s a rare rare rare athlete. He’s he’s going to get eight to 10 targets a game if I’m the Jacksonville Jaguars. And that’s playing wide receiver. Chef Dy, listen. The the question is he he’s done it throughout his entire life, but you’ve heard NFL players come out and say they wonder how much he can actually do it over the course of a full season, over the course of a full career, whether it would take away from him. The man is a freak. He is an incredible talent. The question is how they want to deploy it to get the maximum out of him. Liam Con loves wide receivers and is slanted to thinking like that. Now he’s got to view the larger picture as well. He can help them so many ways that they just have to figure it out. I don’t know that we’re going to see him able to play all these snaps that everybody wants him to. It’s not like he’s this huge guy either. I know he’s always done it. The NFL is different. Bigger, faster, stronger. And again, to your point, Dan, I think they’re going to want to have him on offense. It’s like a this great new shiny toy that you want out there, as important as defense can be. Yeah. Here’s the deal, y’all. You know, everybody has their level of expertise. Let me tell you what my level of expertise is. Being slim. I know a thing or two about that. Been that way all my life. Okay, let me tell you something right now. that brother on that field with them grown ass men. You don’t want him overly exposed. I don’t slip your entire life. I go like skinny slim frail. What would you slim? There was there was a period that um you were a little fuller. We might have that video. That’s fair. That’s fair. No. No. That’s fair. That’s fair. That’s fair. I was a bit I was a bit floated. Ravaged. Ravaged with inflammation. No doubt about it. But that was then. This is a new day. All right. I’m I’m much improved. Here’s the deal. Them big boys on that football field. I really appreciate it. Devonte Adams coming out and saying what he said about the spectre of Travis Hunter playing both sides of the ball. Sure, he could be utilized. There’s some defensive the defensive execution issues that he had in the game. I don’t think it’s an accident that he played more offensive plays than defensive plays, even though it was close enough. I think that when you look at him, his size, guys, I think that matters because the exposure to punishment, I think, is something that you want to guard against at all cost if you are the Jacksonville Jaguars. And I think that’s something that you have to take into consideration when it comes to him. You got Brian Thomas Jr., a 1282 yard receiver last year as a rookie for Trevor Lawrence and the Jacksonville Jaguars. And obviously Trevor Lawrence wants as much help as he can get and your new coach wants as much help as he can have as well. So that may be a priority, but in the end it’s also about making sure that Travis Hunter is in uniform on that field and being able to make a contribution. And you don’t want that brother overexposed to the physicality of the National Football League. When I saw him in his face during Super Bowl week, I told him that to his face. I’m like, “Yo, you you know, you know, you in shape. Obviously, you’re phenomenal, but you’re a relatively small dude in this league that you are about to enter. Be very, very careful about the exposure. Be very careful about it because it can be dangerous for them.” That’s all I’m saying. exposure with just practice. I mean, how do you practice playing both sides of the ball? That’s a lot in itself. I think there’s ways you can, you know, when you’re a wide receiver, you tell him, “Catch the ball, get down. You don’t got to take extra hits.” So, I think you could take limit limit hits. Maybe if you’re playing the Ravens, he doesn’t play a ton of corner because they’re [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music]

On First Take, Stephen A. Smith, Dan Orlovsky and Adam Schefter react to the latest news around the NFL.

0:00 What did Shedeur Sanders prove on Friday?
5:40 Adam Schefter’s thoughts on Shedeur’s preseason performance
7:40 Which QB is the front-runner to start for the Browns?
12:40 What does Landon Dickerson’s injury mean for Jalen Hurts and the Philadelphia Eagles?
19:00 Reacting to Travis Hunter’s preseason performance
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