“I was here one day and he said, ‘Well, if you want to be the best quarterback you want to be, you’ve got to do it everyday, everyday, everyday,'” Sanders said. “So that’s what clicked for me. And then I was like, ‘OK, I need to improve this area.’
“And it’s just one step at a time. You’ve got to do this, you’ve got to do that. You keep adding things as you start to get momentum and everything. So I think it’s just having (a head coach) just talking to you, like I think it is. Just a relationship. I’m a relationship-based person, so I take relationships very seriously.”
Sanders got some first-team reps, while Deshaun Watson was also first in line at quarterback for the Browns on Tuesday when they opened this week’s volunteer camp. Monken said the team’s plan is to give Sanders more reps throughout the season.
Monken said all three quarterbacks — Sanders, Watson and sophomore Dillon Gabriel — held their own in the first practice.
“I thought they were in control. I never once felt like (any of them) were lost,” Monken said. “… To me, that’s the beginning of it. The beginning of it is how we operate, how they lead. Is there a belief system? Who has the ball in their hands every game.”
Asked if he feels it’s time to claim the starting job, Sanders said, “It’s not up to me. I go out there every day and focus on what I can control. If I focus on something I can’t control, I’m going to live the wrong way.”
Last year, Sanders had to wait in line behind Joe Flacco and Gabriel before starting the final seven games of the season, making multiple references to Tuesday to weather the difficult process.
But it’s clear now that Sanders is in a safer place now than he was a year ago.
“I love what we’re doing,” he said. “I’m open to learning every day. I’m just coming here with a renewed mindset and just approaching life with a renewed mindset.”