Shedeur Sanders mutes himself, literally, on

Marshawn Lynch had “I’m just here so I won’t get fined.”

Bill Belichick had “We’re on to Cincinnati.”

Now Shedeur Sanders has come up with an equally creative means of responding without responding to reporters’ questions: silence.

Sure, the Cleveland Browns rookie moved his mouth and gestured when he was requested Wednesday about remaining the workforce’s No. 3 quarterback after fellow first-year QB Dillon Gabriel was promoted to starter.

But no precise phrases got here out of his mouth.

Essentially, Sanders hit the mute button on himself — which is what made the response so sensible.

Sanders was a star faculty quarterback for Colorado, taking part in for his father and NFL legend Deion Sanders, and was thought-about by some to be a first-round choose going into the 2025 draft. Instead, he dropped to the Browns in the fifth spherical (No. 144 general) after Cleveland had already chosen Gabriel out of Oregon in the third spherical.

For the first 4 weeks of the 2025 season, Gabriel was the Browns’ No. 2 quarterback and Sanders was No. 3, both behind 18-year veteran Joe Flacco.

But Flacco has been ineffective in main Cleveland to a 1-3 start, which prompted the Browns to announce Wednesday that Gabriel shall be their Week 5 starter. Flacco dropped to No. 2 with Sanders remaining at No. 3.

Later Wednesday in the Browns locker room, Sanders was requested by a reporter for his ideas on not shifting up on the depth chart. He smiled broadly and proceeded to give a unvoiced reply. Reporters tried at least 4 more instances to get Sanders to reply comparable questions, eliciting only a comparable pantomimed response.

Sanders’ habits might have been in response to essential remarks made Monday by former NFL coach and current analyst Rex Ryan.

Last week, during an interview with ESPNCleveland, Sanders was requested about his emotions on being a backup quarterback in the NFL. During the course of the dialog, he made some feedback — including “if you see the quarterback play in the league right now, I’m capable of playing better than that” and “a lot of teams would be playing me, but that’s not in God’s plan right now” — that rubbed Ryan the improper means.

“This kid talks and he runs his mouth,” Ryan said days later on ESPN’s “Get Up.” “Like he said, ‘I can be a starting quarterback’ with his arms crossed like this. Get your a— 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 now.”