Rookie quarterback Shedeur Sanders came into the season with plenty to prove. Once projected to be a top draft pick, Sanders entered the NFL as a fifth-round pick and the fourth in line at his position in Cleveland. Finally getting his chance to start, Sanders has been a mixed bag so far in his efforts to prove he belongs.
His NFL debut came in the exact manner the Browns had feared it might, as an injury replacement in an offense designed for another passer. Some ugly stats on the box score discredit the reality, which was that Sanders put his team in a decent position for a late-game tying score against the division rival Ravens.
The next week, in Las Vegas, Sanders logged both his first NFL start and his first NFL win. Working under a gameplan designed completely around him, Sanders showed small improvements. Browns coaches kept the gameplan simple, focusing on quick reads and easy completions. In his second start, against the 49ers, Sanders had a more efficient performance, sporting a higher completion percentage while being interception-free for the first time, but the offense ultimately struggled to create and Sanders took a few too many sacks.
Last week, he dueled with a fellow rookie, No. 1 overall pick Cam Ward. Though Ward walked away with the win, Sanders owned the superior stat line. With Cleveland’s staff incrementally injecting more and more each week into the offensive gameplan, Sanders looked comfortable for much of the game as he put up a career-high 364 passing yards. Today, against the Bears, felt like a major regression, though. A blowout loss with three interceptions and five sacks had Sanders looking very much the part of the fifth-round rookie.
The highs and lows in this short sample of his rookie campaign rightfully has fans asking: does he deserve a chance at the starting job in 2026? Or should the Browns continue in their presumed plans to draft a quarterback with one of their two first-round picks next year? Mike Sando, Jeff Howe, and Zak Keefer of The Athletic touched on the topic in a round table yesterday.
Even without the knowledge of today’s brutal performance, the consensus was much more short-sighted. Essentially, The Athletic staffers asserted that Sanders hasn’t quite earned anything that far in the future just yet, but he has earned the right to keep proving himself this season. With more games like he had against the Titans, Sanders could absolutely show the Browns he’s worthy of strong consideration. Any more performances like today, though, and Sanders may rule himself out quicker than expected.
Another consideration they discussed was the fact that potential leadership changes in the offseason could even alter who is making the decision to give Sanders a chance next year. Regardless, whoever is making decisions when the draft comes around will be highly encouraged to draft a quarterback if they like that prospect more than Sanders. The current rookie has not yet done enough to prevent that from being a priority next year, but he’ll continue to get every opportunity for now.
If the Browns walk away from Sanders as their QB next year, it will be consistent with all of the poor decision making that has earned them the reputation of a trash organization going nowhere.
Anyone on the Browns who views today’s performance against the Bears as some sign that they should stop investing time to develop Sanders should be fired immediately (or forced to sell the team, as the case may be). Sanders looked fine today. He looked like a rookie QB who is still attempting to get his sea legs under him. He made some decent passes, some decent decisions in the pocket, and had a confident presence. As the game wore on, he got less productive, getting worn down and maybe a bit discouraged… as one would expect from a rookie QB. Some of his stats weren’t even as good as they seemed, as meager as they were. He completed two deep passes where he (good for him) identified one-on-one coverage and his receiver had a couple steps on the DB. However, that’s the kind of pass that college QBs feast on but find they can’t be relied upon in the pros, where anticipation and timing count for everything. However, one of his interceptions should’ve been either a TD or, more reasonably, incomplete. Another interception just didn’t get enough air but wasn’t egregious. He evaded some sacks. He looked like a rookie.
I’m a Bears fan, and there were things about Sanders’ performance today that wasn’t all that different from the Caleb Williams experience last year with Eberflus (who I STILL CAN’T GET OVER WAS ALLOWED TO KEEP HIS JOB for Caleb’s rookie season).
So many of these NFL front offices, coaching staffs, and fans have gotten their perspective all screwed up by these occasional QBs who have a great rookie season. So many of us have forgotten how you need to give a rookie QB a couple years before making a decision on their long-term survival with the team. Sanders may not ultimately be a starting NFL QB, but he’s got talent, he had success in college, and he’s shown promise in his first few games as a pro. JFC invest the time in his growth.
So many of these trash teams discard QBs at the first sign they can’t perform miracles. But none of these trash team seem to be willing to look in the mirror and realize the problem is them (FO and owner alike). Somebody needs to buy Cleveland’s owner and FO a mirror for Christmas this year.
And I will take the counter to your argument.
He hasn’t shown anything that proves he deserves the chance. If you are going to drool all over what he does against the worst defenses in the NFL, carries mostly by long passes that were actually dump offs taken for a lot of YAC by his talented receivers, then you also have to take the performances against the good defenses in the NFL.
His success in college was highly manufactured by his father as the HC, running an extreme pass first offense, and against subpar competition in college. When he faced the better teams, he struggled…just like we’re seeing in the NFL. If you think his current performance shows promise, then you also have to accept that is has shown deep concern, as well as his egotistical attitude and showboating when he’s losing a football game. You can only invest so much time and effort into somebody, but a guy that literally tells you, “Go watch my tape,” when asked about football concepts and already proclaims himself, “Better than half of the starting NFL quarterbacks,” before he even set foot on an NFL field, maybe doesn’t want to invest the time himself.
The Browns should have never drafted him in the first place, that way they could have saved themselves this clown show. But, they’re the Browns, and they’re going to do what they do best, which is royally screw everything up.
To quote the late Denny Green: Two Sheds is exactly who I thought he was.
E”TMO” – If the entire yes-no debate hinges on the phrase of what Sanders “deserves,” then, yes, I concede your point. I do not believe that Sanders “deserves” the starting job next week or next year.
My point was that the Browns drafted the guy. Sanders was widely viewed as one of the top QB prospects in that year’s draft, and the Browns got him on the cheap. Now he’s been put into action and shown he’s your basic rookie QB- flashes of potential, some good moments, some bad moments. But if you draft a player, you’re committing to investing time in them and developing them. Otherwise, don’t draft them at all. Like, if a team isn’t going to actually give a player a legit chance to grow into the QB position, then don’t waste his time and draft him. But that’s what bad teams often do. They make bizarre draft picks (Browns with Gabriel and Sanders is a nice example) and questionable free agent pick-ups (ditto Browns) and poor personnel choices with what they’ve got after they go and get it (for good reasons or bad).
What Sanders has done thus far doesn’t mean he deserves to be the starter. But if a front office and coaching staff is thinking what he’s shown to date thus far is reason to blithely discard him, that FO/coaching staff DESERVES to be fired (or, at least, ridiculed on message boards). It’s hardly a controversial statement to say the Browns FO/ownership have made a mess of things these past years, and if they’re just going to dither around with Sanders and Gabriel to bide their time to make another QB pick in next year’s draft, then Cleveland fans have a bleak future before them, because the same dummies making the dumb decisions today are unlikely to be struck with clarity or wisdom tomorrow.
Shedeur better hope the new staff releases him, if he can handle it he needs to try and get on with Shannahan or McVay and see if they can help. He would have a good shot of starting a game or 2 because 9ers QBs get beat up. Stafford is old.
What makes you think a Shannahan or McVay wants anything to do with him ?
That is why I said HE needs to try. KS likes cheap back ups, if another team calls and give them picks for Mac they will need to find another replacement.
Rams have a 1st round pick, they are more than likely going to try and draft a qb to replace Stafford. Bennett is not that guy.
Stafford is old but having one of his best seasons. Wouldnt expect Sanders to join anytime soon.
Start him Factory of Sadness.
I think they are stuck with him either way just because there are not enough good QBs right now and the draft only features one.
This doesn’t seem complicated at all. Allow Sanders, Gabriel, and whomever the Browns may acquire to compete next year for a starting job. Unless Cleveland decides to lure another prominent veteran (doubtful given the impact of the Watson deal, but possible), I don’t see any quarterback they could pick being an uncontested starter. The Browns will throw them together in the offseason, and pick the one they like best.
Unless Sanders played every game on his short tenure at a HoF level this year, he wasn’t going to be handed the job next year by default. Cleveland will stack him (and likely Gabriel) up with whomever else they add and pick the one that they feel most comfortable with. Sanders will get a chance to show that it’s him, more so than last year when Cleveland had him buried beneath Gabriel and two veterans.
Sanders and Dillon weren’t on the team last year genius
I think AK meant this year.
Ak185 was talking about next year’s scenario, and when he said “last year,” he would’ve been more clear saying the “previous year,” as in this year, when Sanders was stuck below two vets and Gabriel. Maybe next time you spend a few moments re-reading the post and thinking it through before being so quick to make some snarky response.