The Cleveland Browns just finished up their first mandatory mini-camp as both the veterans and the new guys work on things for this early preview of the season. That season doesn’t start for three months, so we have a lot of time to debate the talking points until the cows come home.

For now, the stories revolve around a popular 5th-round draft pick in quarterback Shedeur Sanders. We will discuss that and some other headlines that have Browns fans debating stuff as we speak in this week’s edition of the 1st and Goal Report.

1st and Goal: Shedeur Sanders shines at mini camp

The fifth-round pick, Shedeur Sanders, the quarterback out of Colorado, continued to shine this past week at the mandatory mini-camp. He was praised by veteran Browns players and handled the pressers by the media very well in discussing where he’s at in the process of this off-season. Despite not getting many opportunities with the first teamers this past week, it seems that many in the building believe Sanders has the most upside and could be the next franchise quarterback the Browns are seeking.

Sanders is showing patience on and off the field, and that’s all good for the youngster. The veterans on the team are talking about Sanders’ presence and having that “it” factor when it comes to the quarterback position.

We have three months to Week 1 of the regular NFL season, but it certainly wouldn’t surprise me if Sanders starts at some point in the season.

2nd and Goal: Nick Chubb leaves for Houston

Probably the biggest story of the week was seeing long-time Browns running back Nick Chubb depart for the Houston Texans. The free agent was considering returning to the Browns, but he decided to move on to the Texans. Cleveland drafted two running backs, Quinshon Judkins out of Ohio State and Dylan Sampson out of Tennessee, in this year’s NFL Draft, and that set the stage for Chubb leaving.

The No. 3 all-time running back in Browns history, with 6,843 yards to his credit, sits only behind Leroy Kelly and Jim Brown on the leader board in terms of running yards. Many fans, including myself, had hoped Cleveland would try harder to get him back in the building, but that wasn’t to be.

Chubb wrote a goodbye letter to the fans and city of Cleveland and ended it by saying, “ …Cleveland, you’ll always have a piece of my heart. Until we meet again.” So, maybe Chubb returns again after this season. We will wait and see!

3rd and Goal: Flacco won’t be doing any “Tik Tok” dance challenges anytime soon

Joe Flacco, who’s back with the Browns as their potential starting quarterback and also happens to be 40 years old made some headlines this week when he reacted to all the adults, parents, etc who are trying to make their mark and earn their “15 minutes of fame” by participating in all these social media platforms like Tik Tok(also known as X). He basically told the grown-ups to “grow up”.

While I, too, have engaged in these social media platforms to help our brands, like our Fanatical Elfz Podcasting Network, gain notoriety, I understand where Flacco is coming from.

The kids of today really rely on social media and their phones. They were born into these platforms and really know nothing else. While we adults (over the age of 40) are familiar with things like rotary phones and answering machines, these kids are growing up in a world where instant information is readily available at their fingertips.

A good start for Flacco is to start these trends of not engaging in social media platforms with his own kids. Let’s see what that leads to. It can seem like a cruel world out there, and hopefully, with more people like Flacco speaking out, it will spark some positive change.

4th and Goal:  Are the oddsmakers right about the Browns upcoming season?

If you pay attention to the various oddsmakers and betting apps these days, you’d think the Browns should just toss in the towel before the season even gets started.

Most oddsmakers’ websites have Cleveland predicted to win even fewer than five or six games. Granted that the team only won three games last season, but before that, they won 11 games in the 2023 season.

So why are these sites all so confident in their predictions? Obviously, the three-win season has something to do with it. The fact that the Browns have four new quarterbacks vying to be the starter might be another reason. Or maybe it has to do with what looks to be a tough schedule and playing in the strong AFC North Division.

Whatever the reasons, let’s all hope they are wrong. If you want to place a bet on the Browns to win more than six games this season, the odds sit at a +180, and that’s a winnable bet in my mind!