After several months of speculation and depth chart browsing, Shedeur Sanders will get his chance to show the Cleveland Browns and the rest of the football world what he can do as a starting quarterback.
Sanders will start for the Browns against the Las Vegas Raiders in Week 12 as Cleveland’s starting quarterback, Dillon Gabriel, remains in the concussion protocol. Sanders, who the Browns took in the fifth round of the 2025 NFL Draft, got his first taste of regular-season action in last week’s 23-16 loss to the Baltimore Ravens. But he didn’t play well in the second half of that game, completing just 4 of 16 passes for 47 yards and an interception.
Still, Browns head coach Kevin Stefanski decided to roll with Sanders over Bailey Zappe for Sunday’s game. So, with Sanders preparing to make his first start, what must the rookie do to find success in the NFL? How have the Browns handled the situation with Sanders, who has been the most talked-about fifth-round rookie in recent memory?
FOX Sports’ Eric D. Williams and Ralph Vacchiano asked those questions to those around the league ahead of Sanders’ first start.
Matt Hasselbeck: Browns need to simplify scheme for Sanders, rookie QB must find humility
Eric D. Williams: Former NFL quarterback Matt Hasselbeck knows a thing or two about quarterback rooms, serving as the Seattle Seahawks‘ longtime starting quarterback and backing up the likes of Brett Favre, Andrew Luck and Jake Locker.
But Hasselbeck was baffled by how the Cleveland Browns handled their quarterback situation this season, watching them bring in and then move on from two veteran signal callers in Joe Flacco and Kenny Pickett, leaving rookies Dillon Gabriel and Shedeur Sanders to fend for themselves.
“Drafting him (Sanders) was super weird to me,” Hasselbeck told me. “I know Andrew Berry. I’ve got a tremendous amount of respect for him. We worked together at the Indianapolis Colts. He’s an incredibly smart guy and is very measured. He doesn’t make rash decisions. He doesn’t make emotional decisions.
If Shedeur Sanders is the starter, how much can he ELEVATE this offense? 📈🔥
“It’s clear that they had a plan when they went out and drafted Gabriel. And so drafting Shedeur, when they did and the way they did, was just very bizarre. And if I’m being honest, it didn’t feel like a scouting decision, or head coaching decision. It just felt like it came from above that.”
With Sanders making his first NFL start because Gabriel is unavailable due to a concussion, the Browns must figure out how to get the Colorado product to play to his full potential after he struggled as an injury replacement against the Baltimore Ravens last week.
For Hasselbeck, less is more.
“The hardest thing with quarterbacks is pass protection — knowing where you’re hot (route) is and addressing pass protection,” Hasselbeck said. “The actual throwing passes — or whatever people might think is the most important thing in playing quarterback — everyone that has the job can make the throws. It’s not really about that. It’s about protecting the team, protecting yourself and protecting the ball through knowing what to do in pass protections, specifically in third down, red zone.
“It’s finding a way to keep that simple enough for a young quarterback, yet aggressive enough so that he’s not playing with handcuffs on. … The No. 1 question you want to ask yourself as a quarterback when you break the huddle is what would be my problem on this play? With some plays it’s very clear. And there’s other plays where you’ve got five things that could be a problem. So, coming up with plays where what would be my problem and the answer is one thing – that’s where you would put him in fertile soil to grow and to be successful this year.”
Hasselbeck also discussed the topic of backups getting first-team reps. Cleveland’s offensive linemen said they heard Sanders’ cadence for the first time last week against Baltimore.
“You don’t get your own cadence when you’re a backup quarterback,” Hasselbeck told me. “That’s what you get when you’re in college. When you’re a backup, your cadence needs to be the starter’s cadence. You lose yours. You don’t have yours. You must be his.
“Backing up Farve, I would practice his cadence in the hotel room in the mirror. It wasn’t my cadence. I knew that when I got reps in any situation — or if I got reps — it needed to sound like him. And I needed a Mississippi accent (laughs).”
The Browns’ quarterback room in training camp consisted of Sheduer Sanders, Kenny Pickett, Dillon Gabriel and Joe Flacco. (Photo by Nick Cammett/Getty Images)
However, Hasselbeck did say that he asked Green Bay head coach Mike Sherman if he could get two practice reps a week with the starters, and that those reps were invaluable to his development.
“It’s totally normal that you wouldn’t get reps with the starters,” Hasselbeck said. “That’s 100 percent normal. But I also would add I don’t think it’s right. I don’t think it’s the best thing and it’s not what everybody does.
“I’ll use the Kansas City Chiefs as an example. When Alex Smith was the quarterback, they were looking for opportunities to give Patrick Mahomes reps. I’m not sure with the situation in Cleveland that they could do that without it being national news. So, it’s a little more difficult.”
While Hasselbeck questioned how the Browns handled the quarterback room, he also pointed to teams that had success drafting two quarterbacks in the same draft class. The Washington Commanders took Robert Griffin III No. 2 overall and Kirk Cousins in the fourth round. The Colts took Andrew No. 1 overall and Chandler Harnish with the final pick in that same 2012 draft.
Hasselbeck also said Sanders benefited from having Pat Shurmur as his college coach and getting to run an NFL-style system while at Colorado: Shedeur has shown he can run a pro-style system.
“He’s already proven he can handle that part,” Hasselbeck said. “It’s some of the other stuff that quite honestly might be who he is when he’s not wearing a helmet, that he might need to improve. And that’s another side of being a franchise quarterback.
“Interviews, talking at the podium and in the building — some of the game’s greatest quarterbacks, one of their superpowers is humility. … When Andy Reid came to work me out when I was a college senior, he never even asked to see me throw. He wanted to see if I was the kind of guy he wanted to coach. He wanted to see if I was the kind of guy that his locker room, which he knew really well, would love — or wouldn’t love.”
NFL personnel executive: Browns handled Sanders correctly
Eric D. Williams: While there’s been criticism nationally for how Cleveland has managed Shedeur Sanders and the quarterback situation, one NFL senior personnel executive I spoke with believes the franchise went about things the right way.
“They have handled it exactly as you would handle a second/third starting quarterback,” the league personnel executive told me. “I think you will see a better version of Shedeur this week, with the real prep time. But he is still a rookie.
“There will be plays you like and plays you hate. Hopefully, the prior outweighs the latter. But no matter who plays quarterback for the Browns this season, their offensive line is weak and they lack receivers.”
Shedeur Sanders wasn’t selected until the fifth round of the 2025 NFL Draft, surprsingly falling after being projected as a first-round pick. (Photo by Perry Knotts/Getty Images)
Another national scout I spoke with believes Sanders should be productive this weekend if given support from the team.
“It should be interesting,” the scout said. “Let’s see how he prepares, since he didn’t prepare for the draft process. He has the tools and most of the traits. If they keep it simple and get him some early completions for confidence and rhythm, he should be fine.
“We’ll see how he handles adversity and responds. But the bigger question is what happens when teams and defenses figure him out a year from now.”
Scout’s view: Sanders was ‘jumpy’ and ‘uncomfortable’, but it’s too early to give up on him
Ralph Vacchiano: Shedeur Sanders’ unexpected debut was a statistical disaster: going 4 of 16 for 47 yards and an interception. To at least one scout who watched his performance, it was actually worse than that.
“He looked as uncomfortable in the pocket as any quarterback I’ve ever seen,” the scout told me. “He was jumpy. Almost as soon as the ball was out, he was whirling around, looking for an escape. And it’s not like he was creating anything outside of the pocket either. He couldn’t reset himself and find a receiver down the field.
“There’s no way to run an offense like that. Maybe it was first-game jitters, I don’t know. But he’s got to calm down, trust his reads, and settle himself a lot more in the pocket.”
Shedeur Sanders didn’t have the best showing in his regular-season debut against the Ravens last week. (Photo by Nick Cammett/Getty Images)
But all is not lost for the lightning-rod rookie. While another scout agreed that Sanders’ debut was “a complete disaster”, he insisted that he saw nothing that would indicate he can’t go on and have a good NFL career.
“Don’t judge anything on this one game,” the scout said. “It was bad. I get it. But look at the circumstances. He’s a rookie who got limited practice time and then is thrown in a game with a really bad team. How many rookies were going to thrive in a situation like that?”
“So let’s all calm down a bit. Let’s see what he does when he gets time to prepare. Let’s see what he’s like with a few games under his belt. I don’t know if he’ll be good. But I’d bet anything he’s not as bad as he looked in that [first] game.”
Eric D. Williams has reported on the NFL for more than a decade, covering the Los Angeles Rams for Sports Illustrated, the Los Angeles Chargers for ESPN and the Seattle Seahawks for the Tacoma News Tribune. Follow him on X at @eric_d_williams.
Ralph Vacchiano is an NFL Reporter for FOX Sports. He spent six years covering the Giants and Jets for SNY TV in New York, and before that, 16 years covering the Giants and the NFL for the New York Daily News. Follow him on Twitter at @RalphVacchiano.
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