CLEVELAND, Ohio — Shedeur Sanders heads into his sixth career start Sunday at home against the Steelers with enormous gratitude for his rocky road to Browns QB1 status.
It began with his freefall in the NFL draft from the projected first round to the fifth, where the Browns traded up to select him at No. 144 after passing on him six times, and then moved into his status as the fourth-stringer in the four-way quarterback competition in camp.
All summer long, he worked with the Hungry Dawgs in training camp, his fellow backups and hopefuls, and waited patiently for his opportunity. Sometimes, he was off on a far field away from the other three quarterbacks, getting up to speed in the Browns system. Never once did he take a snap with the first-team offense.
But he showed up every day with a smile on his face, ready to work and show what he could do. Along the way, he picked the brains of veterans such as Joe Flacco, Deshaun Watson and Myles Garrett, and never complained about the precipitous climb he’d have to the top of the depth chart.
But one by one, the other three quarterbacks in the competition went by the wayside, with Kenny Pickett getting traded to the Cardinals and Flacco to the Bengals, and fellow rookie Dillon Gabriel suffering a concussion in Week 11 against the Ravens. Sanders, who still had yet to take a first-team snap in practice, was pressed into service in the second half.
It looked ragged at first, with Sanders retreating a few times under pressure for sacks, and throwing a pick. But by the two-minute drill at the end, it was Sanders Time. He found fellow rookie Harold Fannin Jr. over the deep middle for 25 yards on the opening play into Baltimore territory, and then placed the potential gamewinning touchdown pass into the hands of fellow rookie Gage Larvadain, one of his trusted Hungry Dawgs. The pass was knocked away and the Browns lost, but Sanders had done his part, and everything changed in that moment.
“Going out there vs. a great defense like the Ravens and not playing my best, but at the same time, that last drive, that’s when I felt comfortable,” he said Tuesday on a video conference. “That’s when I knew I could get back to being myself. That’s when I could feel it. So I think everything’s about feel and I’m thankful that I have that feeling.”
He carried the feeling clear across the country to Las Vegas, where he won his starting debut, 24-10, becoming the first Browns QB to win his first career start since 1995. It was during that victory that he served notice to the NFL world that he was coming with the explosives, namely a 52-yard bomb to Isaiah Bond, and that he wasn’t going away. “A lot of people want to see me fail, and it ain’t going to happen,” he said afterwards.
He showed more progress despite a 26-8 loss to the 49ers, and then outplayed No. 1 overall pick Cam Ward in a 31-29 loss to the Titans, in which he put two TDs on the board in the final 4:27 and threw for a 364 yards and three TDs. If not for being taken off the field on the gametying two-point attempt at the end, who knows what might’ve happened.
He followed that with his 31-3 clunker in Chicago, but rebounded early against the Bills with a textbook opening TD drive, and a team-high 49 yards rushing. Despite playing behind four backups on the offensive line and with mostly rookies and young players at the skill positions, he had a chance to win or tie on a two-minute drive, but it started at the 12 and fizzled with a sack and an intentional grounding. Still, he mostly held his own against the 11-4 Bills, and showed the Browns he’s a relentless fighter.
“When I look back today and I look back at everything, I’m super appreciative that everything happened how it happened,” he said. “If I were to look back from the Ravens game to now … I would say I improved in experience. I improved being in situations and understanding that failing. Those are all building blocks to be able to have success.
“Sometimes you have to fail in certain areas to, and I like the route that basically it took. I like how everything went because it’s a lot of great building blocks that I’m able to learn from when it comes to life, when it comes to just me being a part of the organization, everything.”
With two chances left to convince the Browns that they don’t need to draft a quarterback with one or both of their first round picks — they’re currently picking at No. 3 and No. 27 — Sanders is getting closer each week to accomplishing that goal. But he’s not taking anything for granted. Even though he said last week that ‘this is the worst is going’s to be,’ he’s not looking too far ahead.
“I live in the present,” he said. “I’m focused on this week and this game, and each week and every game because nothing’s promised. Nothing’s promised going into next year or anything. So I stay in the moment, stay focused on what I have to do now to even be able to be here next year. And I just enjoy life.”
He’s also not dealing in hope or promises or votes of confidence right now. He’s more about going through his progressions, stepping up in the pocket, trying not to press, and not throwing the ball to the other team, which he’s done five times in his last two starts, with at least one not being his fault.
“I don’t think it’s about feeling a commitment,” he said. “It’s about controlling what you can control as a person, as a player. I have to do my part and get some wins. I have to do my part and play clean football. The rest isn’t in my hands. That’s really all it is. I don’t own the organization, so I can’t promise anything what happens. I’m not God. I can’t dictate what’s going to happen each and every day, each and every minute.
“So you’ve just got to enjoy what you do have. You’ve got to enjoy the present. You can’t look too deep into the future because then you’ll miss the blessings and the lessons that you learned from the now.”
Along the way, he’s developed his relationship with Kevin Stefanski, who said Monday that he “has all the faith in the world” in Sanders in clutch moments such as the fourth and 2 late in the Bills game. Sanders slipped out of the back of the pocket and took a crushing sack, but Stefanski would do it all over again, knowing that Sanders self corrects quickly.
“It means a lot because having a coach’s trust is a big thing in this game,” Sanders said. “You build trust. You get trust and you earn the trust of the coach by getting completions, by moving the ball down the field and doing what we did last game. That’s how you build trust.”
Steelers coach Mike Tomlin, who might rest some of his starters if Pittsburgh clinches on Saturday night by virtue of a Ravens loss or tie in Lambeau Field at 8 p.m., sees the potential in Sanders and his ‘Dawgs.
“Shedeur is doing a really good job,” Tomlin told reporters in Pittsburgh on Tuesday. “He’s growing and growing with each week from an outsider’s perspective. I think it’s always cool when you’re growing with company. I certainly, see him gravitating towards some young players whose roles are expanding since the last time we played them.”
Of course, Stefanski would love for Sanders to get the Browns’ primary pass-catchers such as Jerry Jeudy and Cedric Tillman more involved in the passing game, but he knows it will come with time. Against the Bills, Tillman had one catch for 8 yards, and Jeudy had three for 12.
“A good pass game is really spreading the ball around to all of our players, whether you’re a receiver, a tight end or a running back,” he said. “We want to utilize all of our guys that are available to us. It’s the quarterback’s job to get through his progressions and trust what he’s seeing and go with the football where it should go appropriately and not force the ball to anybody.
“Having said that, trust. Our trust in Jerry Jeudy, our trust in Ced Tillman is extremely high and we want them to affect all of these ball games. But you also have to make sure that you’re going through your progressions.”
He’ll also have to watch for batted balls, an issue that reared its head last week against the Bills’ veteran defense. It will be more of the same Sunday vs. the likes of Cam Heyward and Alex Highsmith — providing the veterans play — if Sanders isn’t careful with his eyes and his reads. But he has a natural feel for the game and plays on instincts and intuition. Even he doesn’t know where the game will take him until he’s in the zone.
“It’s just take what they give you,” he said. “Everything’s about timing. Everything’s about what’s there. So it’s a consistent chess game that you’re playing while you’re out there. If a team knows I love to have explosive plays, I think they would think (the way) to neutralize me would be to take away the explosive plays, you know?”
Each week, Sanders is making significant strides and giving the Browns more and more reasons to believe he’s ‘who their looking for.’ And should he win the starting job in 2026, the joy will be all the sweeter because of the bumpy path he took.
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