What a scrapbook memory for Shedeur Sanders. Coach Prime came to witness his son’s first NFL start. A suspect Raiders defense played along. Myles Garrett was there on his side. And how.
Lights. Camera. Action.
When it was over, after the NFL’s highest-profiled rookie – fifth-round draft status or not – came out as a winner with the Cleveland Browns he flashed his million-watt smile and essentially said he told you so.
“Hopefully, we cleared a little stuff up,” Sanders said after the 24-10 victory in Las Vegas on Sunday. “But we have a long way to go, a long way to grow. I know it’s only one way. And the only way is up.”
That bit of instant self-analysis was appropriate enough, given the saga. Sanders, the projected first-round pick who plummeted to the fifth round, finally got a chance to crack the lineup, given the concussion that sidelined fellow rookie Dillon Gabriel. And for a quarterback who finally got some quality practice reps with the starters, due to the looming assignment, he made a pretty good statement about his potential.
The numbers don’t leap off your fantasy scoresheet. Sanders barely completed half his passes (11 of 20, for 209 yards, with a TD, an INT and an 87.3 efficiency rating). The Browns tallied just 11 first downs under his command, which is what happens when you’re 3-for-12 on third downs. And while his first NFL touchdown throw went for 66 yards, rookie running back Dylan Sampson did the heavy lifting, weaving and darting his way to paydirt after taking a swing pass in the flat.
Yet Sanders was ready for his big moment nonetheless, and he’ll step right up as the buzz will surely intensify over the decision facing Browns coach Kevin Stefanski about which rookie quarterback starts when both are healthy.
After preseason ‘competition,’ Shedeur Sanders finally gets his chance at QB1
Sanders, the 42nd quarterback to start for the Browns since the franchise rebooted in 1999, became the first Browns rookie quarterback to win in his debut start since Eric Zeier in 1995. And he produced the two longest plays of the season for the Browns (3-8).
He didn’t get a real crack when the competition was supposedly open during the summer. Perhaps he will get a shot now, considering the production he displayed with a week of dedicated preparation and the jolt of energy he brings as part of his package.
Not only did Sanders not wet his pants inside the giant Roomba-looking venue near The Strip, (ala Allegiant Stadium) he demonstrated what could make him special – as it did when he played for his father, Deion Sanders, at Colorado – as a playmaker. On a third-and-eight late in the first quarter, Sanders rolled away from a free blitzer coming up the middle and connected with Isaiah Bond on a 52-yard dime that set up the Quinshon Judkins 2-yard TD run that, with the conversion, made it 14-0.
As Stefanski put it, “I think you saw a lot of what Shedeur does well on the field today, to make that play off-schedule when we were outmanned in protection, to get the ball down the field.”
Myles Garrett’s brilliance finally rewarded in Browns win
It helped immensely that Sanders had the backing of one of the NFL’s best defenses, led by the incomparable Garrett, who again showed why there’s no debate that he’s hurtling toward another NFL Defensive Player of the Year award.
Poor Geno Smith.
The Browns sacked Smith 10 times and Garrett collected three of the sacks to go with his two forced fumbles, six quarterback hits and four tackles for loss. Garrett broke his own single-season franchise record for sacks, leaving with 18, which leaves him five sacks shy of the all-time NFL record – with six games to play.
Still, the “best supporting” role for Sanders was significant enough. Think about the quarterback-needy teams that passed on Sanders, including the Raiders, who drafted running back Ashton Jeanty with the sixth pick overall. Las Vegas drafted wide receiver Jack Bech in the second round (58th overall), cornerback Darrien Porter (68th) early in the third round, plus four other prospects before Sanders was picked 144th overall.
Interestingly, former Raiders coach Antonio Pierce told CBS that had he still been in his previous position that he would have ensured that the team drafted Sanders – and he insisted that Raiders owner Mark Davis agreed with that position. Pierce, though, was replaced by Pete Carroll, aligned with new GM John Spytek, while Tom Brady consults.
Maybe Sanders just delivered some payback to the Raiders to start his revenge tour.
“I was a fifth-round pick,” he said. “I got skipped by everybody. At least five times.”
Hey, the revenge tour could take years.
To his credit, Sanders didn’t play into that theme on Sunday.
“It just comes with the game,” he said. “It is what it is. But I’m just thankful for where I am now. Everybody has their differences, but I still got an opportunity to play … The money’s different, but thankfully, I have a good family.”
From distraction to proud papa. Deion Sanders cheers on son’s first win
Ah, the family. The video clip of Deion greeting Shedeur in the tunnel before the game went viral. In the days leading up to Sunday, Coach Prime didn’t commit to making the trip from Colorado – where his Buffaloes fell to 3-8 with a home loss against Arizona State on Saturday night – but obviously was compelled to capture the moment.
After all, Shedeur made it back to Boulder during the Browns’ bye week. And it’s not every day that one of his sons makes his first NFL start.
No, Deion was anything but a distraction. During the game, the TV cameras caught him in a suite looking like any other proud father cheering on his son’s biggest plays.
Still, the father-son connection, as beneficial as it is on many levels, was one of the residuals from the draft plummet for Shedeur as some decision-makers expressed uneasiness with the dynamic.
Time will tell whether that was a huge mistake in judgment by some NFL teams. To this point, though, it was part of the equation that resulted in Sanders falling way deeper in the draft than many in the NFL universe imagined and winding up as the “second” rookie quarterback on his team, buried deeper on the depth chart than he’s ever been.
“That’s how life is,” Sanders said. “Everybody’s not in the best situation, but it’s no excuse. You’ve got to go out and perform. It’s no choice. Nobody cares if this was one week of prep. Who cares?
“So, a lot of people want to see me fail. It ain’t going to happen.”
Haters or not, it merely must be proven over and over again.
Contact Jarrett Bell at jbell@usatoday.com or follow on X: @JarrettBell