Skip Bayless Demands This QB Is Traded Now

Skip Bayless calls for the Browns to trade quarterback Shedeur Sanders, as Deshaun Watson secures the starting role in Cleveland.

Skip Bayless is pushing the Browns to make a move he clearly believes makes too much sense to ignore: send Shedeur Sanders to Atlanta.

That’s the latest twist after Cleveland announced Monday that Deshaun Watson will open the season as the Week 1 starter. The Browns begin the year on the road against Jacksonville, and head coach Todd Monken said the team spent the offseason and training camp seeing Watson as the quarterback who was ahead.

“We felt over the course of training camp and the offseason that (Watson) was ahead of Shedeur,” Monken said. “Shedeur’s closed that gap, for sure.

And that’s a credit to him. We look forward to Shedeur continuing to grow as a player, but ultimately, we’re about Week 1.

Putting our best foot forward over the next three weeks.”

Bayless wasn’t buying the decision, and he took his frustration straight to X, formerly known as Twitter. In a post Monday night, he shared a 19-minute video and made his stance loud and clear: “PLEASE TRADE SHEDEUR TO THE FALCONS!”

Bayless’ argument is that Sanders would be better served elsewhere, specifically with Atlanta, a team he sees as having an unsettled quarterback picture. He pointed to the Falcons as a place that could use help at the position and said Cleveland should do right by Sanders by moving him there.

For now, though, the Browns remain high on Sanders, and the situation still has more moving parts than Bayless is willing to admit. Watson is the starter entering Week 1, but the source of uncertainty around the job isn’t going away. That makes a trade of the former Colorado Buffaloes star quarterback look highly unlikely.

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