Stephen A. Smith calls out Cleveland for Shedeur Sanders' place on the depth chart

As the Cleveland Browns shuffle the deck and turn to Dillon Gabriel at quarterback, ESPN personality Stephen A. Smith is confused by what’s happening elsewhere on the depth chart. Specifically, he doesn’t get why Shedeur Sanders has been relegated to the third spot on the depth chart, behind veteran Joe Flacco.

Cleveland is clearly comfortable turning to youth at this point, so why not fully embrace the movement? Smith weighed in on the topic on ESPN’s First Take on Wednesday morning.

“Listen, I don’t understand why you can’t put Shedeur as your QB2,” Smith said. “Personally, I don’t get that part. And here’s why I’m saying that: Flacco knows Father Time has caught up with him, he’s not what he used to be. He’s happy to be on an NFL roster, to contribute in any way that he possibly can. He knows that he’s a stop-gap for the young guns coming up the rear. He knows that. So there’s nothing wrong with putting him at the QB3 spot.”

Ultimately, what happens should the Browns have to move past Gabriel remains unclear. Is Shedeur Sanders No. 3 in name only, such that Cleveland would turn to him if Gabriel got hurt or was playing poorly?

Regardless, it’s more about what Flacco brings to the table, Smith said. He continued expanding on his argument.

“He’s there as a security blanket to some degree. He’s not what he was just a couple of years ago when Deshaun Watson went down and he got the Cleveland Browns to the postseason before they lost to the Houston Texans,” Smith said. “He’s not what he was then. But still overall he belongs on an NFL roster because he brings a lot to the table in terms of helping youngsters on the come-up. So I don’t know why they don’t have him at the QB3 and Shedeur at the QB2. I think that’s kind of sending the wrong message to a lot of folks, maybe they don’t want folks clamoring for Shedeur prematurely or whatever.”

At this point, Smith really only sees one way that things play out. And ultimately that’s with Shedeur Sanders getting a real shot at the job at some point.

“But in the end the bottom line is this, I think it’s clear unless Dillon Gabriel just plays lights out and Cleveland is challenging for a postseason berth — which I don’t see happening with that offense which is ranked 31st and second to last in the league and 30th in their running attack, OK — I don’t see that happening,” Smith said. “If he played lights out it would be different. But because I don’t see that happening, I think around Week 12, Week 13 we can expect to see Shedeur Sanders.”