Cleveland Browns cornerback Tony Brown was labeled part of Shedeur Sanders’ “entourage” during the rookie quarterback’s stadium entrance before his preseason debut last Friday against the Carolina Panthers.
Brown is not new to this. He’s been around six locker rooms and has kept himself employed after going undrafted in 2018 following three years playing two sports at the University of Alabama.
Brown addressed his relationship with Sanders, making it clear how much effort he’s putting into making the “Grown QB” feel.
“I’m very close with him since the first day I met him,” Brown told Andrew Siciliano on his podcast The Bark Tank. “I told him, ‘Hey, I want to be the guy that you can go to with anything, bro.’
“I asked him, ‘What do you need for you to be your best out there on the field?’ We got to talking and he was like, ‘This is what I need.’
“As a young player, you can second-guess yourself — are they going to judge? And they did judge. But at the end of the day, you are the one playing, you are the one throwing the ball, you’re the one taking the snaps. You're the one that's gonna lead us on the field today.”
Of note, Brown has not made the same effort for Dillon Gabriel. Myles Garrett has also made it public that he supports Sanders more so than Gabriel.
As Sanders and Gabriel compete for a roster spot and, eventually, regular season snaps, how each ingratiates himself with the locker room will be important to monitor.