It could be the beginning of a new era. This Sunday against the Las Vegas Raiders, Cleveland Browns quarterback Shedeur Sanders made his first NFL start. Right before the game, CBS Sports’ Tiffany Blackmon caught up with Sanders, and asked him what this opportunity feels like.
“Feels good,” Sanders said. “We cool, calm, collected. Like, this ain’t nothing to us.”
When Blackmon asked Sanders what he hopes to show the NFL world today, he didn’t mince his words:
“I’m who they been lookin’ for,” Sanders said.
The Browns took a 14-3 halftime lead in large part due to their defense, which sacked Geno Smith five times in the first two quarters. In all, Sanders completed 7 of 11 passes for 127 yards and one interception in the first half.
The Browns jumped out to a 7-0 lead after an impressive, 44-yard punt return from Gage Larvadain. Quinshon Judkins took advantage of the short field, and punched in an 8-yard touchdown from the wildcat formation.
Late in the first quarter, Sanders connected with fellow rookie Isaiah Bond on a 53-yard pass to set the Browns up with a first-and-goal from the two-yard line.
Myles Garrett was certainly impressed with the throw.
As was Sanders’ father!
From there, Kevin Stefanski again called a play from the wildcat formation, and Judkins scored his second touchdown of the game to put Cleveland up 14-0.
Sanders then made his first major mistake, throwing an interception to Charles Snowden, who was in zone coverage, while attempting to connect with Jerry Jeudy. However, the Browns defense stood tall and held the Raiders to a 41-yard field goal.
One thing we’ve noticed from the Browns’ offensive game plan this week with Sanders at quarterback is to roll him out of the pocket. The rookie has a tendency to drift in the pocket and hold onto the ball too long, so this was a point of emphasis from Stefanski.
Late in the second quarter, Sanders rolled right and hit Jeudy deep for a massive gain. However, the wideout didn’t know where he was on the field, was hit by Jeremy Chinn from behind and fumbled the ball.
Sanders received his first NFL action last week against the Baltimore Ravens when Dillon Gabriel exited the contest with a concussion. However, the son of NFL legend Deion Sanders struggled, completing 4 of 16 passes for 47 yards and throwing one interception. Sanders is the 42nd different starting quarterback for the Browns, and he will look to become the first Browns quarterback to win his first career start since 1995.
The reigning Big 12 Offensive Player of the Year fell to the No. 144 overall pick in the 2025 NFL Draft. In Sanders’ final season at Colorado, he completed 74% of his passes for 4,134 yards, 37 touchdowns and 10 interceptions.
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