Shedeur Sanders has spent the offseason trying to separate himself in a crowded quarterback room. But in the last few weeks, every step forward gets met with a reminder of how far there still is to go. The latest dig at the QB came from a Cleveland Browns reporter willing to take some drastic measures to avoid seeing Sanders play.

“I am open to any idea that prevents me from watching Shedeur Sanders play quarterback on Sundays,” Cleveland.com’s Chris Fedor said on 92.3 The Fan. “I would rather poke myself in the eyeballs repeatedly than watch him try to play quarterback at the NFL level. He was statistically one of the worst quarterbacks that we’ve ever seen. He was terrible.”

Shedeur Sanders was not a sight for sore eyes last year; there’s no two ways about it. NFL.com’s Nick Shook ranked the QB 44th among the 63 who started at quarterback last year. Sanders flaws were tough to ignore, like his misjudged throws and the peculiarly long time to throw the ball. In fact, Sanders clocked an average of 3.24 seconds to throw the ball, the most in the league last year (per ESPN Next Gen Stats). Against the Chicago Bears last year, he was intercepted three times.

However, despite every argument against Sanders, one cannot ignore the fact that he was the better option among the four QBs on the roster. Deshaun Watson was out with an injury, and Joe Flacco and Dillon Gabriel went 1-3 and 1-5 as starters, respectively. Sanders’ record is at 3-4. He wasn’t the ideal starter, but gave the Browns enough for them to place their trust in him for this year.

And, Sanders also had to deal with a very poor Cleveland offense overall. There was only so much he could do.

Watson’s recovery has once again refueled the pessimism around Shedeur Sanders’ future. The latter is only in his second year in the NFL and was always going to be outshone by the veteran. Watson’s 2020 season with the Houston Texans was his best, and the reason why Cleveland is going to pay him 230 million for his services. However, Sanders cannot be written out of the picture just yet.

The young quarterback has managed to improve drastically in his problem areas. GM Andrew Berry called the improvement “phenomenal”, and Sanders’ quarterbacks coach has echoed that sentiment.

“He’s done a great job of defining his footwork, playing with a base, learning the offense, working his butt off to really master his craft,” Mike Bajakian said. “And it’s been fun to watch. He’s done a really good job. … [He’s] getting through progressions faster, and his feet are matching that mindset.

As for the starting spot, head coach Todd Monken hasn’t crowned anybody yet. But Sanders has yet to concede to Watson in this race. Monken has implied that both are starting-level QBs; they split first-team reps in minicamp. Sanders took the lead on day one, followed by Watson on day two, and both on day three.

ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler also noted that the Year 2 QB has “bridged the gap” to Watson, who entered the spring as the presumed starter. With training camp set to begin soon, it looks like Sanders is going to give his all to secure his best possible result.