Mark Madden: Cutting Shedeur Sanders is best decision for the Browns, which is why they won't

The Cleveland Browns should cut Shedeur Sanders.

It’s stupid to have a backup quarterback who is a constant topic of heated debate nationally and locally. It’s distracting and counterproductive.

Cutting Sanders means absorbing heat for a few weeks, perhaps a bit longer. Then it goes away.

Sanders certainly wouldn’t be the only fifth-round pick who gets cut.

It’s a Dollar Store version of the Colin Kaepernick saga.

Kaepernick could have been a serviceable backup beyond the end of his NFL career in 2016 at age 29. But kneeling for the national anthem made him toxic to at least half of the NFL’s paying customers, even more so to advertisers.

Being a backup wouldn’t have been enough. Kaepernick’s media allies would have been constantly clamoring for him to start.

So NFL teams stopped employing him, paid him chump change of less than $10 million in a collusion settlement and now Kaepernick is 37 and forgotten.

You can tolerate a headache, even a constant one, for a true big-time player. (See Brown, Antonio.)

But Kaepernick was only OK. Sanders might not even be that.

Sanders’ latest preseason outing was Saturday versus the visiting Los Angeles Rams. He was 3 for 6 for 14 yards and a passer rating of 56.2. Sanders quarterbacked five series, going three-and-out four times.

Sanders’ success is raved about.

His failure is excused, blame diverted.

Saturday’s stumble was no exception.

Sanders’ stooges say the Browns’ offensive line blocked well for the other rookie quarterback, Dillon Gabriel, then stopped doing so for Sanders.

Coach Kevin Stefanski got criticized for taking out Sanders before the final drive, which saw Tyler Huntley quarterback the Browns to the winning field goal. Stefanski deprived Sanders of a chance to be the hero. In an exhibition game, lol.

It’s all part of a conspiracy that started when Sanders was selected in the fifth round of this year’s NFL Draft after being projected as a first-rounder.

That plot would have to involve all 32 teams, including the Browns. Evidence has not yet been produced.

What do the NFL, Browns’ offensive line and Stefanski gain if Sanders flops?

Those linemen were trying to make the team, too, or grab a bigger role. Sanders getting sacked five times didn’t help their cause. (Among Sanders’ flaws: He holds onto the ball too long. Maybe Sanders sabotaged the linemen.)

Stefanski is a two-time NFL Coach of the Year trying to dig out after a 3-14 season.

A vague racial overtone is implied by the conspiracy theorists. Even though nearly half the starting quarterbacks in the NFL are Black. Even though the first pick in this year’s draft, Cam Ward, is a Black quarterback.

Exactly why would it be important that Sanders fails?

It’s crazy.

That’s why the Browns should cut Sanders. To get away from crazy.

Could Sanders be a starting quarterback?

Maybe.

Is it worth finding out?

No.

He’s not going to be Patrick Mahomes or even Kyler Murray.

Don’t underestimate the cacophony that surrounds Sanders’ career, and will continue to do so.

The ESPN debate shows are a microcosm.

Every nuance of Sanders’ fledgling pro career is mooted every weekday. Sides are chosen, and it is vociferous.

I get it. The nature of sports talk is having too much time to fill.

But it is absolutely insane, especially for a fifth-round pick because he’s a big name’s kid.

It has never before been argued that a fifth-rounder should get legit opportunity to start at quarterback in his first NFL season. (No, it didn’t happen when Tom Brady was a sixth-round selection in 2000. Mercifully, ESPN didn’t have shows like that then.)

The Browns need to walk away from this. They should cut Sanders.

But they won’t.

Because they’re the Browns.

Joe Flacco will start Week 1.

But it won’t be long before Sanders gets his chance.

Which digs the hole deeper.

Because they’re the Browns.