ESPN draft expert Mel Kiper Jr. has been one of Cleveland Browns quarterback Shedeur Sanders most ardent supporters in the media. Recently, Kiper even mentioned Sanders as one of the premier quarterbacks in the division, despite the fact that it remains unclear whether he’ll be declared as the starter this season.

On Wednesday, Kiper Jr. called into The Really Big Show and made it clear that he doesn’t understand not only why Sanders doesn’t have more media members in his corner, but why there is so much negativity surrounding the young quarterback.

“I don’t get, I really don’t understand what’s going on with Shedeur, I don’t understand why people want to keep hating and hating,” Kiper said.

Nothing new for Kiper

Sanders had a pedestrian rookie season last year, finishing the campaign with 7 touchdown passes, 10 interceptions, and a 68.1 quarterback rating, which was 49th out of 50 qualified quarterbacks. Still, Kiper wanted to know what Sanders had to do to mitigate the hate.

“What the hell has he got to do? Are we going to get into this negativity again about Shedeur,” Kiper asked. “I don’t know what else the kid needs to do. Josh Allen had haters in year three so if Josh Allen has haters in year two and three of his career, there’s no way Sheduer can avoid it.”

Unfortunately for Kiper, reports from Wednesday indicate that after voluntary minicamp veteran Deshaun Watson has the “inside track” to the starting job in Cleveland. Mandatory minicamp for Cleveland will take place from July 9-11.