LONDON — On the day rookie quarterback Dillon Gabriel was named Browns QB1 and Joe Flacco QB2, Shedeur Sander conducted his pantomime interview at his locker when asked about still being QB3.
Sanders, who will serve as the emergency quarterback here against the Vikings on Sunday for the fifth straight week, mouthed the answers to about five questions before a member of the Browns communications staff shut it down.
His “mime-erview” took place at the very end of the open locker room period, after Flacco and Gabriel had already talked at the mic stand in the locker room.
But the silent session — caught on camera by several Cleveland media outlets — went viral, like pretty much everything involving Sanders does.
What impact did it have on Gabriel that Sanders’ interview took center stage that day and grabbed most of the local and national headlines?
“None,” Gabriel told cleveland.com and two other Browns beat writers on Friday. “I don’t want to speak for anyone, but for me it’s like, ‘Hey, we’re a team, we do this together as a unit.’ We can only control what we can control. I don’t want to speak for anyone in particular.”
Earlier in that small-group interview Gabriel was asked how he was able to navigate all of the harsh criticism in camp, as well as all the craziness surrounding Sanders, including so many in the national media clamoring for him to start.
“I’ve been through a bunch of competitions at every stop,” he said. “Going back to high school, even into my freshman year at UCF, going into Oklahoma, even at Oregon. I’ve had a bunch of guys I’ve played with that I’m still close to. QB rooms are important to be able to build relationships and feel really good about it, so that’s how I kind of approach and navigate everything.”
ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported soon after Sanders’ pantomime that he was responding to ESPN’s Rex Ryan ripping him for remarks Sanders had made the week before in a one-on-one interview with ESPN Cleveland. Schefter cited no source for the report in his X post.
During that ESPN Cleveland interview, Sanders said, “If you see the quarterback play in the league right now, I know I’m capable of doing better than that.” He also said, “It’s obvious a lot of teams would be playing me, but that’s not in God’s plan right now.” He added that “some things happen for a reason and I’m a true believer in that. So I don’t … feel bad that I’m in the situation I’m in right now. It’s just funny to me and I just enjoy it.”
Ryan went off on him on ESPN’s morning show, “Get Up,” saying, “This kid talks and he runs his mouth. Like he said, ‘I can be a starting quarterback’ with his arms crossed like this. Get your (expletive) in the front row and study and do all that. If I know, the whole league knows.
“Quit being an embarrassment that way. You’ve got the talent to be the quarterback you should be. You should be embarrassed that you’re not the quarterback now.”
Sanders apparently decided that not saying anything was the move, but it likely got more run than a verbal answer would have.
In the meantime, Gabriel will keep navigating the noise — and the silence — and try to go out and win a football game.
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