The quarterback was seen as living off his father’s name when he entered the NFL. But he has slowly started to prove himself at the Cleveland Browns
It seems the goalposts are always moving on Shedeur Sanders, the Cleveland Browns’ rookie quarterback who keeps throwing people off.
He excelled at two colleges to establish himself as a top NFL prospect, only to wind up getting picked in the fifth round of this year’s NFL draft in one of the most dramatic stock crashes in league history. He then distinguished himself in training camp, only to wind up as the back-up to the back-up. When Sanders was finally pressed into injury relief duty last month and led the Browns to just their third win of the season, the caveat was that his breakthrough had come at the expense of the even-worse Las Vegas Raiders. Last week against the struggling Tennessee Titans, Sanders became the first Browns quarterback to throw for more than 300 yards and three touchdowns and rush for another score in the same game since 1950. But for many, the bigger headline was that he lost. Again.
Earlier this week Sanders was named the Browns starter for the rest of the season, inviting even more scrutiny of a an already polarizing player. His supporters say Sanders is entitled to his shot; his critics say he lacks the skills to play in the NFL, question his attitude and paint him as a spoiled rich kid. Every argument seems to excavate deeper feelings about Deion Sanders, his Prime Time father who paved the way for his son’s success. In the age of the nepo baby, Shedeur makes for a strange underdog story.
