Adam Schefter criticizes Shedeur Sanders miming answers to media: 'It comes off unprofessional'

While speaking with reporters Wednesday, Cleveland Browns QB Shedeur Sanders didn’t say anything. Instead, he appeared to mime his answers, and ESPN’s Adam Schefter said the decision was in response to criticism from Rex Ryan.

Speaking on SportsCenter Wednesday, Schefter criticized Sanders’ approach considering the timing. The Browns named Dillon Gabriel the starting quarterback Wednesday after benching Joe Flacco, meaning there were questions about how the former Colorado star felt about the decision.

Additionally, Schefter said Sanders’ message – the response to Ryan, who had poignant criticism on Get Up this week – likely got lost in translation. As a result, he said it “came off unprofessional.”

“Let’s give you some proper context,” Schefter told Kevin Negandhi. “It was recently that Rex Ryan on Get Up blasted Shedeur Sanders and that Shedeur Sanders should keep his mouth shut. That’s what Rex Ryan said about Shedeur Sanders. Clearly, those comments made themselves back to Shedeur Sanders, who took the approach today to keep his mouth shut. Now, the issue here is it comes on a day in which they named Dillon Gabriel the starting quarterback. It comes on a day in which people want to know how he’s feeling. It comes on a day in which people don’t realize that Rex Ryan told Shedeur Sanders to stop running his mouth, and Shedeur Sanders – in his mind – is responding to Rex Ryan. So instead, he imitates a mime, which usually comes from clowns, which comes off as clownish behavior.

“You’re a quarterback in the NFL. You’re expected to hold yourself in a professional, mature manners. You speak to reporters at certain times. Yes, he thought he was being clever and cute and funny, responding to Rex Ryan. But it didn’t come off that way. It came off unprofessional. A lot of people don’t realize that’s what he was doing. And that’s part of learning what you can and can’t do in the National Football League. Other people noticed it, people in his organization noticed it, people outside of the organization noticed it. Yes, he was responding to Rex Ryan. But many people will not know that and that message will get lost by others.”

Rex Ryan: ‘Something’s missing’ with Shedeur Sanders

Ryan made his comments Monday on Get Up while evaluating the Browns’ quarterback situation. He said “something’s missing” with Sanders, who slid to the fifth round of the NFL Draft despite being considered one of the top quarterbacks on the board entering the draft.

“I look at Kevin Stefanski as – I mean, an outstanding coach, all right – but why the hell isn’t he putting Shedeur Sanders in?” Ryan said. “We’re all waiting to see this, Shedeur Sanders be the guy, or Gabriel or whatever. Something’s missing. Something’s missing with this kid. This kid talks—he runs his mouth like — ‘I could be a starting quarterback,’ with his arms crossed like this. Get your ass 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.”