It’s Time for Browns Rookie Shedeur Sanders to Show Us Who He Really Is

Henry McKenna

NFL Reporter

I don’t just want to understand who Shedeur Sanders is now. I want to know who he will be. Few people share as much about their lives as the Browns fifth-round pick does. And even fewer remain as indecipherable while living so publicly.

With everything that’s happened this NFL offseason, it’s hard to know anything for certain about the Cleveland Browns quarterback. For example: Where does he stand on the depth chart among the team’s five QBs? There’s no obvious answer.

Even with all of his time in front of a camera or speaking into a microphone, we don’t know Sanders yet. Multiple people close to him say that the Sanders we see in the public sphere isn’t the guy we’ll get to know throughout his career. We haven’t met the real guy — underneath all this media attention and scrutiny.

Shedeur Sanders answers questions from the media during a press conference prior to rookie minicamp in May. (Photo by Nick Cammett/Diamond Images via Getty Images)

Just look at the headlines surrounding Sanders’ recent workout session in the rain. It was a heavy storm in Miami, yet it didn’t deter him from completing his workout with trainer Darrell Colbert. Given the reaction, you’d think Sanders had battled some sort of weather calamity to complete his throwing session. It was rain. Just water. He’s not made of sugar. Now, this isn’t to say the workout wasn’t positive or noteworthy. It’s good to see him working in adverse conditions. His throwing motion had snake-strike quickness. His footwork looked tight.

But what does it say about him?

It’s one piece of the Sanders puzzle, which includes — according to an Instagram post from last week — the QB working out at 12:18 a.m. in Dallas. The skeptic in me wonders what he’s doing working out at that hour. Practically speaking, what does he gain from a midnight workout? The optimist in me thinks that night games might keep him up that late — if there’s overtime. So maybe that’s why he’s burning the midnight oil. (But the skeptic would also note that the Browns’ latest kickoff is 4:25 p.m. ET this year. So there’s no night game on the immediate calendar.)

These videos show a certain side of Sanders: the grinder.

It’s also a performance. He wants everyone to know he’s a grinder. And that’s fine. He can be the Browns’ hardest worker — and also the team’s biggest personality with the biggest spotlight. But that requires something that smells, tastes, feels and looks like perfection.

That’s not yet what Sanders has delivered.

Sanders and his father, Deion Sanders, have claimed that the QB is about to prove everyone wrong after his draft-day fall, triggered in part by character concerns. And we’d have an easier time believing that if Shedeur didn’t just get a 100-mph speeding ticket last month. It’s not just about the citation. (Everyone speeds, though probably not that fast.) It’s that he got another speeding ticket for going 91-mph earlier in June.

So Sanders didn’t just make the same mistake twice — he made the second mistake worse.

In fairness, this is the type of immaturity that an NFL player can overcome. You might have forgotten, for example, that Browns superstar Myles Garrett received six speeding tickets from 2017 to 2022. That doesn’t make it right. But it goes to show that it’s a transgression that stars can move past. For now, Sanders’ speeding incidents, even if they have little to do with football, will lead to questions about how much he’s really focused on the game — questions that reached a fever pitch after he flunked his combine interviews.

The speeding incidents blur the simple picture of a guy who’s grinding at his craft in the rain and working out at 12:18 a.m.

It’s likely Sanders will be LEGENDARY, the name of his personal brand.

But anyone who knows what Sanders will be legendary for is kidding himself.

Will he be famous? Or infamous?

Will he become a legend for failing to meet expectations? Or will he exceed the expectations of all the NFL teams that let him slip to the fifth round?

Those are huge questions. The solution is to start small. Win the meeting. Win the snap. Win the practice period. Win the practice. He’ll need to win when he’s on the field with the rookies this week. And he’ll need to win with the third- and fourth-teamers when the veterans report next week.

Veteran Joe Flacco (15) enters training camp as the favorite to be the Browns’ starting QB to begin the season. (Photo by Nick Cammett/Getty Images)

That’s likely where he’ll start in his fight for QB1. And then if he somehow leaps past Joe Flacco, Kenny Pickett and Dillon Gabriel, Sanders will have to worry about next year. Even if he plays serviceably, there’s no guarantee he’s Cleveland’s future at QB. The 2026 draft will offer plenty of quarterbacks, and, potentially under a new head coach, the Browns would be in position to draft one. Certainly, Sanders would have to be something special to overcome this roster that has talent in key places (WR Jerry Jeudy, TE David Njoku, rookie RBs Quinshon Judkins and Dylan Sampson) but big holes at just about every spot on the offensive line. The defense isn’t one with many bragging rights either.

Over the next 12 months, we should get a stronger sense of who Sanders is — and who he will be. That starts in training camp, where the real work begins. Sometimes he’ll be studying up until midnight, but most of that work will occur from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Sanders reports to camp with Browns rookies on Friday. It’s time for him to show himself to the organization.

Is he that guy grinding in the rain and the wee hours of the morning?

Or is he that guy who keeps getting cited for speeding?

That’s for Sanders to decide, publicly and privately.

Before joining FOX Sports as an NFL reporter and columnist, Henry McKenna spent seven years covering the Patriots for USA TODAY Sports Media Group and Boston Globe Media. Follow him on Twitter at @henrycmckenna.

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