Can Shedeur Sanders meet the moment?

Two days from now, Cleveland Browns rookie quarterback Shedeur Sanders will face the greatest challenge of his athletic career when he makes his first NFL regular season start.

The 23-year-old rookie will start on the road against the Las Vegas Raiders in what will likely be the most-watched debut of the season.

Will he meet the moment?

This essentially is the only question that matters for those who aspire to greatness in the realm of sport and play. This especially has been true for African American athletes whose inspirational triumphs over the decades have been a metaphor for triumphs outside of the arena.

Jack Johnson met the moment in Australia in 1908 when he became the first Black heavyweight champion of the world; Jessie Owens met the moment in Berlin when he won four Olympic Gold medals in front of a diminished Adolf Hitler in 1936. Joe Louis met the moment when he beat Max Schmeling in a historic boxing rematch in 1938. Althea Gibson met the moment when she became the first African American to win Wimbledon in 1957. Muhammad Ali met several moments during his legendary boxing career. In the modern era, Michael Jordan met moment after moment en route to winning six NBA titles. LeBron James, hyped since high school, met the moment and fulfilled the promise.

Sanders’ father, Deion “Prime Time” Sanders, met the moment when he became the only athlete in history to hit a Major League Baseball home run and score an NFL touchdown in the same week; when he became the only athlete to play in both a Super Bowl and a World Series; when he played in an NFL game and an MLB playoff game on the same day.

It’s unfair to mention Shedeur Sanders in the same breath with these iconic figures. On the other hand, Sanders epitomizes an era when notoriety and celebrity have become tantamount to winning championships — part of a generation of clicks and influencers where hype equals accomplishment, and achieving notoriety is akin to meeting the moment.

Sanders’ accomplishments, brand, and image were created in houses that his Hall of Fame father built. At Jackson State, Coach Prime took an HBCU program to national prominence. At the University of Colorado, Prime resuscitated a floundering football program and made it nationally relevant.

Shedeur Sanders was part of those stories. His father made sure he was the star of those stories to the extent that it became difficult to distinguish hype from talent. Sanders was projected to be drafted in the first round. When he dropped to the fifth round, there were accusations — which continue to this day (like false claims of a stolen election) — that Sanders was victimized by an NFL conspiracy to put a confident young Black man in his place.

The challenge in front of Sanders, indeed in front of every child raised in mansions built by their parents, is can they create mansions of their own? The question Sanders must answer is: Can he create a legacy of his own in the NFL? While there is no way he can answer those questions in one NFL start, Sanders will be expected to do precisely that. That is the burden of talking the talk. You have to walk the walk.

Sanders must meet the moment by proving that he is a starting-caliber NFL quarterback. That is why Sunday’s start in Las Vegas is so significant.

One of the most highly anticipated starts for an African American quarterback I’ve witnessed occurred on Sept. 2, 1984, when Warren Moon started for the Houston Oilers — oddly enough, against the Raiders, though at the time they were in Los Angeles.

Moon had a true comeback story. He was the star quarterback at the University of Washington, but as was the case with so many African American quarterbacks at the time, Moon was overlooked and went undrafted. He chose to go to Canada to prove himself. And he did.

He won six Canadian Football League championships with the Edmonton Eskimos. When he decided to go to the NFL, there was a bidding war that the Oilers (now the Tennessee Titans) won.

There had been no other Black quarterback with Moon’s credentials. In fact, in 1984, no other African American started the season at quarterback. In a career that spanned 17 seasons, Moon played his way into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

Fast forward to this season, when half of the starting NFL quarterbacks were African American, Sanders becomes part of that legacy Sunday.

I believe that Sanders can meet the moment; I’ve seen him do it, not only in college but in the NFL. In August, he made the first start of his NFL career against the Carolina Panthers in Charlotte. In what had to be one of the most highly anticipated preseason rookie debuts in recent NFL history, Sanders looked like a full-fledged NFL quarterback. Granted, this was a preseason game, but as Sanders noted after the game, everyone playing was hungry and trying to make an NFL roster.

In that game, there were flashes: a scramble and a long pass completion, two perfectly placed red-zone touchdown passes. He finished 14-of-23 passing for 138 yards and two touchdowns.

At the time, Sanders was fourth on the depth chart behind Joe Flacco, Kenny Pickett (who now is with Las Vegas) and Dillon Gabriel. The only reason he started was because the others were injured.

He met the moment.

But just when he was in a position to build on a solid performance, Sanders injured his oblique muscle during a passing drill in practice. He would not get another chance to play until last week in Baltimore when Gabriel suffered a concussion. Sanders was thrown into the fire against the Baltimore Ravens.

Could he overcome the odds of being a rookie, of coming off the bench in relief? Could he defy the odds and meet the moment?

He did not. Sanders completed just 4 of 16 passes for 47 yards and was intercepted and sacked. On one play, Sanders executed his classic spin move to escape pressure and had a receiver open in the end zone but overthrew him. The Browns had the lead when Sanders entered the game but wound up losing.

Rookies make mistakes, but Sanders’ mistakes will be amplified. With unapologetic self-confidence, he has put himself in a position where critics are demanding that he walk on water. There may be a part of Sanders that believes he can walk on water.

When he met reporters on Wednesday, Sanders said he was confident that he would come through.

“Well, first, I know our fans have a lot of expectations and hope, and I would be doing a disservice to myself and a disservice to the organization if I didn’t feel like I am the guy,” he said.

He added, “I feel like I’m the guy, I know I’m the guy, but you just have to be able to see. The game got to speak.”

So, on Sunday against the lowly Raiders, Sanders will have an opportunity to prove that he is the guy. He has had a week of practice with the first team. He has had an opportunity to work with the Browns’ receivers. Fittingly, he is in Las Vegas and he is betting on himself.

He has always bet on himself, and his father has always bet on him, so now we’ll see.

On Sunday, Sanders will have an opportunity to prove himself by leading Cleveland to a win on the road. He can take a major step toward proving that he really is a starting caliber NFL quarterback.

All he has to do is meet the moment.

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