It was in 1999, the year the re-born Browns took the field, and head coach Chris Palmer, a man of integrity, was talking to me about character as it pertains to selecting players in the NFL Draft.

I had asked him how much character figures into the evaluation process.

“It matters a lot,” Palmer said. “It’s hard enough already for players — even the good prospects — to make the jump from college to the pros. In a lot of cases, the success rate is razor-thin. So, with all that, then, I can’t take a chance on a player if I know he already has some character issues. Here we are trying to win a tight game in Pittsburgh in the fourth quarter and I’m counting on that guy to make a play. I’m wondering to myself, ‘Was he doing the right thing every night in the days leading up to the game, getting his rest and studying the playbook, or was he out carousing around at some bar or club until the wee hours of the morning?’ I can’t put the rest of the team — the guys who are doing the right thing — into that kind of situation. It’s just too risky.”

Palmer was exactly right. Indeed, never were truer words spoken.

Shadeur Sanders wasn’t yet born when Palmer said that, but it applies not just to the Browns rookie quarterback but also to everyone else in the league. And if the Browns can’t can count on Sanders, then they can’t play him or even keep him on the roster.

The Browns want to keep him and play him. It’s why they drafted him.

Sanders’ accountability has not been determined yet, but that process will ratchet up when training camp begins in about a month. Because of what has happened, he has to hit the ground running at that point, and I truly believe he will. Everything else about him has been pretty good thus far, so he has to make sure to prove to everyone, including himself, that the speeding and court stuff was an aberration and not the norm.

Does Shedeur Sanders have character, or is he a character? It’s impossible for a rookie, who hasn’t proven himself in the league, to be both.

Steve King

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