After a stellar preseason debut for the Browns, rookie quarterback Shedeur Sanders gave reporter Tony Grossi an earful, in a way that seemed largely playful.
Said Shedeur to Grossi, among other things: “Tony, I be hoping you got something positive to say about me. You only say negative stuff about me. And I’m like, ‘I ain’t do nothing to you.’”
On Monday, Grossi addressed the situation on ESPN Cleveland.
“One thing to note was that I initiated the conversation,” Grossi said, via Reice Shipley of AwfulAnnouncing.com. “He left the podium to walk to the locker room and I called his name to ask him another question. And that’s when he discussed what was on his mind. I was a little surprised he went into that because as I said, it was inaudible but I said, ‘Hey, this is your night man. This is a big night for you, have fun.’ But I appreciated the fact that he did not say what was on his mind from the podium, which other quarterbacks have done with me, which is very uncomfortable.”
While Grossi appreciated that the discussion happened away from a formal press conference, he didn’t like that it was recorded.
“I didn’t appreciate the fact that this interaction was filmed without my knowledge,” Grossi said. “It turns out, it was his brother, who is documenting everything from his rookie season. That’s fine, just now that I’m aware of it, I’ll be a little more careful and everything. But everybody that saw the video, it was good natured. I don’t know what caused us to laugh, I really can’t recall that conversation precisely. But we went on good terms.
“We had a couple other words in the locker room too. But I was a little surprised that, on his big night, and it was a big night for him with all of the circumstances, that he would raise this. That’s why I thought he was joking. It shouldn’t have been that big of a deal on his mind after his big night. Anyways, all is good. We saw each other today at practice and we move on.”
And that’s the key. They’ve moved on. Sanders made his point, Grossi made his — and everyone is now on notice that, if you’re near Shedeur at any point this year, anything you say can and will be recorded.
