Kevin Stefanski Challenged Shedeur Sanders. The Browns’ Rookie QB Stepped Up

Henry McKenna

NFL Reporter

When a Cleveland Browns quarterback throws a touchdown in the preseason, it’s usually no big deal. When the Browns’ QB threw a touchdown on Friday night, his father tweeted in celebration: “Yes lawd! Yes. @ShedeurSanders.” As benign as that may seem, the tweet reached two million people by early Saturday morning.

That’s the Shedeur Sanders experience. And the Deion Sanders experience.

But that’s also why Sanders has been adamant that his father not attend Browns training camp. The rookie QB, now infamous for his historic slide to the fifth round of the 2025 draft, said he didn’t want the buzz and distraction that his father brought. Because when Deion Sanders does something — anything — it’s a headline. So when Shedeur does something — anything — it’s a headline.

But both of Sanders’ touchdown passes against the Carolina Panthers on Friday were headline-worthy. After nothing but uncertainty since he declared for the NFL Draft, Sanders began to provide clarity — evidence. He could someday be a starting NFL QB. He could soon be a starting NFL QB.

On his first touchdown pass, Sanders used play-action to roll out to his left. He flipped his hips into throwing position and waited for his receiver to get open. And in the tightest of windows, Sanders zipped the ball between defenders for a touchdown to receiver Kaden Davis.

The second touchdown was similarly impressive. Sanders moved off his first option in his progression and slid to his right to elude pressure before firing the ball into another tight window for a touchdown. He made a difficult play look easy.

Coach Kevin Stefanski didn’t make things easy on Sanders. The Browns spent multiple series with their second-team offense facing off against Carolina’s starters. And on a fourth-and-2, Stefanski went empty formation. That decision seemed like a message: Show me something, Shedeur. And that might have been too aggressive, because Sanders’ first option was tightly covered and pressure came so quickly and he didn’t have time to throw for the second option, who didn’t separate until it was too late.

But that mistake — partly on Sanders and partly on his offensive line — didn’t define his game. The touchdowns did. They showed his resilience and poise.

“There’s different things and different life lessons that you’ve got to go through. I haven’t went through this situation that I’m in — ever,” Sanders said during his postgame press conference. “It’s really just a test, I think, from God — or whoever it’s from. It’s just a test. I’m thankful I was able to see the day of light and make a play. They didn’t have to let me play. So anything and everything is good for me.”

At this time last month, I wondered when Shedeur Sanders would show us who he was. There was the good: evidence that he was grinding away at his craft. And there was the bad: a pair of speeding tickets. That followed many reports that he completely whiffed on the pre-draft process, starting with interviews in Indianapolis at the NFL Combine.

But on Friday night at Carolina — for all the fanfare, for all the media attention, for all the fame — Sanders went out and played quarterback in all of the same ways he did at Colorado.

“I felt like myself out there,” Sanders said. “When you’re out there on the field, it’s different. Ball is ball. Ball’s never been a problem for me. It’s whatever the optics are that everybody makes up after — outside the game. But in the game, I know who I am.”

His performance wasn’t spotless. He took two sacks. He scrambled longer than he needed to. And he tried to do too much.

“I feel like where I want to go, that wasn’t good enough,” Sanders said. “There was incompletions out there.”

There will almost always be incompletions. But he didn’t have a single turnover-worthy play. He finished 14-of-23 for 138 yards and two touchdowns. He made easy throws and hard ones. He threw to wide-open receivers and into tight windows. In short, he did everything the Browns could’ve asked him to do. And that’s no doubt why tight end David Njoku and Sanders were chatting — both with massive smiles — on the sideline as the second quarter drew to a close.

“In life, I don’t want anybody to make excuses,” Sanders said after the game. “There’s two ways you can look at it. You can look at it and be thankful and take advantage of the opportunity. Or you can look at it like, ‘Dang, this is what I’m asking for and I’m not prepared.’

“I would say I’m going to sleep good tonight.”

Sure, it’s just preseason. The Panthers have a bad defense. And yes, I know that, even though Carolina’s starters played, they were working in vanilla defenses. But the point of the preseason is to succeed in whatever circumstances you face. Sanders did that. He had the poise to direct traffic on a second-and-12 to send Luke Floriea downfield past a group of defenders — and they linked up for a 30-yard reception.

There’s no doubt there were issues with Sanders’ performance. And most of them stemmed from his desire to do too much. His incessant over-scrambling was an issue at Colorado. That was a knock on him coming out of the draft: Does he play too much hero ball? There’s room for growth. And no doubt, he hasn’t climbed all the way up to the starting spot.

But, man, he climbed on Friday night. Sanders seized his first opportunity. And when he gets his next one, he’ll have to do it again. And again. Until he’s gone from QB5 to QB1. His first preseason game put him in a good position to contend.

Given what we saw during the draft, that’s all he could ask for.

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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