Shedeur Sanders finally got to make his first start of the season for the Cleveland Browns in last week’s loss to the New Orleans Saints, and while he got off to a slow start and the Browns didn’t win the game, he still had a strong performance with 325 total yards, two touchdowns, and no turnovers. He is back to the bench this week as Deshaun Watson returns to hopefully keep the Browns from losing three in a row and falling to .500, but the second-year QB made a statement last week.
Most importantly, he looked to have improved, which is exactly what you want from a young quarterback. He still missed a few throws and took too many sacks, but progress is progress and it’s encouraging to see him grow in the face of so much adversity.
One person who is always in his corner is his father, NFL legend Deion Sanders, who coached Shedeur all the way until he was drafted by the Browns. Deion gave an honest assessment of the noise around his son, and he believes ‘it’s crazy.’
“We’ve always dealt with chatter, with the last name Sanders, you’re always going to deal with chatter… but the level of dysfunction that permeates around is crazy,” Sanders said.
“We’ve always dealt with chatter, with the last name Sanders, you’re always going to
deal with chatter… but the level of dysfunction that permeates around is crazy,” – Coach Prime on Shedeur Sanders and what he’s had to deal with. pic.twitter.com/X8AzUZiDvw— ESPN Cleveland (@ESPNCleveland) November 12, 2026
He said Shedeur’s performance was encouraging and made him happy, also noting that it is clear that he has improved. He would have liked to see him get off to a quicker start, but overall most would agree that it was a strong outing.
Had Deshaun Watson been playing worse, Sanders may have done enough last Sunday to win the starting job. Unfortunately for Sanders, he’s going to have to wait a bit longer until he sees the field again because Todd Monken doesn’t sound like he is making the switch anytime soon.
The most important thing for Shedeur Sanders right now is continued improvement. Sunday was a great step forward, and it won’t go unnoticed around the league.
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