Shedeur Sanders suffered an injury during Wednesday’s practice, and the Cleveland Browns‘ rookie quarterback is expected to miss some time.
Sanders suffered an oblique injury during a joint practice against the Philadelphia Eagles. The injury occurred during individual drills. Sanders did not throw during 7-on-7 or full-team sessions.
The Browns made an announcement on Sanders later in the day.
“Further medical testing and examination on Shedeur Sanders revealed an oblique strain. He is considered day to day, won’t practice tomorrow and is unlikely to play in the game on Saturday,” the statement said.
It’s a rough update for Sanders, who is coming off a strong preseason debut. He started against the Carolina Panthers and played the majority of the game. Sanders passed for 138 yards and two touchdowns in the 30-10 victory.
“I’m thankful for being able to look in every player’s eyes and tell them, ‘This is new, this is a family. We’ve got to change,’” Sanders said after the game. “Me coming here, my vow is to definitely make change and change was made. I was very thankful, very excited being out there, being out there with the O-line and everything like that, I was so thankful being out there with them, receivers and everybody did their part and I feel like everybody believed.”
Injury Opens Door for Browns QB Dillon Gabriel
With Sanders and Kenny Pickett (hamstring) likely out of Saturday’s preseason tilt against the Eagles, the door is wide open for Dillon Gabriel to make a statement. Gabriel — a third-round pick — missed last week’s preseason game with a hamstring injury.
Now healthy, Gabriel will get a chance to match the momentum Sanders built in his debut.
“Every day is critical, you know, so you could have probably asked me that next week and the following. Every single day is critical, and you have to approach it every single day like that because that’s all you got right,” Gabriel said on Wednesday. “And you’re only as good as your last outing. So yes, every day, everything’s critical, everything’s important and it’s got to be that way when you’re playing against high level team every single week.”
Gabriel said he’s still uncertain about what the situation will be on game day.
“I have no clue what’s going to happen,” Gabriel said. “I’m just right where my feet are. But time will tell, and we’ll see what happens, but that’s up to the coaches, and, you know, we got a lot of time up to that point.”
Browns Veteran QB Joe Flacco Unlikely to Play Against Eagles
At 40 years old, Joe Flacco has remained the lone healthy quarterback for the Browns through training camp. However, Flacco is unlikely to see time in the second preseason game against the Eagles. The former Super Bowl MVP is entering his 18th season and the Browns mostly know what to expect from him.
Flacco said he spoke with Sanders after the injury but didn’t have a lot of time to comfort the rookie.
“He said something about it and I don’t know, what can I do?,” Flacco said, per Mary Kay Cabot of cleveland.com. “It’s kind of tough. We all want to be out there and getting reps, but hey, that’s what training camp and football is all about. Sometimes these things happen. Sometimes you’ve got to deal with them, and it is what it is.”
Flacco is the frontrunner to be the Week 1 starter in Cleveland. He’ll likely see some time when the Browns wrap up the preseason against the Los Angeles Rams on August 23.
