Shedeur Sanders made his long-awaited NFL debut on Sunday vs. the Baltimore Ravens in Week 11 of the NFL season. The son of Deion Sanders starred at Colorado after transferring with him from Jackson State University. After a very tumultuous offseason that saw him fall from first-round conversations to being drafted in the fifth round, his opportunity was finally here.
When Sanders was initially drafted, he was the fourth quarterback on the roster. He was behind Joe Flacco, Kenny Pickett, and third-round pick Dillon Gabriel. Pickett was traded in the offseason to the Las Vegas Raiders. Flacco was traded to the Cincinnati Bengals in Week 6 of the season after Gabriel had replaced him in Week 5.
On Sunday, Gabriel went down, was evaluated for a concussion, and did not return to the game. This was now Sanders’ moment; he had the entire second half to show what he could do at the NFL level. This was the time to let his game do the talking for him, as we know he’s a very confident and unapologetic person.
According to Adam Schefter, Sanders will be starting this week, so let’s see what he can do in a full game with the opportunity of a lifetime in his hands.
Sanders went 4/16 with an interception, two other turnover-worthy plays, and took multiple bad sacks in his NFL debut. It didn’t help that the Browns have one of the worst offensive lines in the NFL. It genuinely felt like a cheat code whenever the Ravens blitzed or sent immediate pressure his way. Sanders isn’t as mobile as you would expect him to be; he holds onto the ball too long. It also didn’t help that as soon as the ball was snapped to him, there was instant pressure in his face.
Sanders’ first ever play in the NFL was a five-yard completion to Cedric Tillman. Later on that drive, he took an eleven-yard sack from Kyle Hamilton, fumbled, and luckily Wyatt Teller recovered it. Hamilton also celebrated his sack by doing Sanders’ patented watch flex celebration. In Sanders’ second career NFL drive, Nate Wiggins intercepted him after taking a big hit from Kyle Van Noy and throwing an errant pass intended for Jerry Jeudy.
The most intriguing drive for Sanders came on his sixth and final drive, where he had an opportunity to tie the game as it was 23-16 with 1:34 remaining in the fourth quarter. He started it off with a beautiful twenty-five-yard connection to Harold Fannin Jr., who did a great job of getting open over the middle of the field. Sanders then threw a short pass to Jeudy on 3rd and 10, and the wide receiver did a phenomenal job at using his elusiveness and breaking tackles to reach the line to gain.
Sanders ran for five yards after that, eluded a sack, but then overthrew Isaiah Bond for a touchdown with Travis Jones in his face. The ensuing play was eye-opening as he threw a ball on the money to Gage Larvadain in the end zone, but a great pass breakup by Chidobe Awuzie denied his game-tying twenty-five-yard touchdown bid. It was now fourth down and five, and he wasn’t able to connect with David Njoku to continue the game.
Sanders finally received his much-anticipated first team reps and is looking to build chemistry with the starters. This theoretically should be a better performance for him against the Raiders, who only have the tenth least blitz percentage this season, according to Sharp Football Analysis. After watching the film against the Ravens, it would make sense for that number to increase, but we’ll see. Sanders just simply has to improve based on last week because, frankly, it’s hard to get worse than a 2.4 QBR and a 13.5 passer rating. He also has to learn that he can’t spin out of every single play trying to avoid a sack and instead just live to see another play.
Cleveland also needs to be aware of Maxx Crosby. He’s one of the best defenders in football for a reason; he’s immensely talented, and he wants to feast on a porous Browns offensive line. According to PFF, Crosby is coming into the week with 5 sacks, 30 pressures, 19 hurries, six hits, and four batted passes. He also just forced a fumble on Dak Prescott on Monday Night Football, so he’s going to want to build off that in an advantageous matchup as well.
There was a lot of bad from Sanders in his NFL debut, and it definitely outweighed the handful of good that he actually put out there on the field.
Browns fans are mixed on whether they want to continue to see him or Gabriel, but a contingent of them at least applaud the fact that he throws the ball downfield. It’s genuinely absurd that in his limited action, Sanders was only one yard away from tying Gabriel’s longest pass of the season.
Sanders knows that he has to be better; he took the blame for the loss, and a couple of his teammates, including Myles Garrett, pushed back on that.
Sanders will finally be getting his reps with the ones, which he hasn’t gotten since he was drafted. He’s been getting mostly scout team reps, which makes sense since he was the fourth quarterback on the depth chart when he got drafted.
This is an opportunity that Sanders has to take full advantage of. He has to force the Browns to keep using him, starting with his play doing the talking for him. Let’s see what he can do in another massive opportunity for him this week.
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