Shedeur Sanders better grab this opportunity with the Cleveland Browns

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — In what had to be one of the most highly anticipated preseason rookie debuts in recent NFL history, Cleveland Browns quarterback Shedeur Sanders introduced himself to the league on Friday.

He looked good. He looked strong. He looked like a full-fledged NFL quarterback. If Sanders’ goal was to put pressure on the Cleveland Browns and on his chief rival for a roster spot, fellow rookie Dillon Gabriel, mission accomplished. A national audience that for months has waged a ferocious social media debate over Sanders’ merits as a quarterback saw a confident, self-assured rookie lead Cleveland to a 30-10 preseason victory over the Carolina Panthers.

A meaningless preseason game? Perhaps. But as Sanders pointed out Friday evening, the game was not meaningless to the players trying to make the squad.

It was not meaningless to him.

“Typically, people don’t take those too much serious, but like that’s our Super Bowl, that’s each and every player’s Super Bowl,” he said.

Yes, there were flashes of the so-called hero ball that Sanders played throughout his collegiate career — the scrambling back and forth when he should have simply thrown the ball away or taken a shorter completion. But there were also flashes of the electric Sanders: a scramble and a long pass completion to Luke Floriea, a pair of perfectly placed red-zone touchdown passes to Kaden Davis. By and large, Sanders, as he’s been with limited reps throughout training camp, was the picture of discipline and efficiency on Friday: 14-of-23 passing for 138 yards and two touchdowns.

You might ask: Compared to what? Sanders is listed fourth on the Browns’ quarterback depth chart behind 40-year-old Joe Flacco, the presumptive starter; Kenny Pickett, a former first-round draft pick of the Pittsburgh Steelers; and Gabriel, who was drafted two rounds ahead of Sanders in April.

The only reason Sanders had the opportunity to play extended minutes on Friday — he played well into the third quarter — is because Pickett and Gabriel are sidelined with hamstring injuries. The injuries have provided Sanders with a window of opportunity that he has climbed through.

“Overall, I felt like me out there,” he said. “And I couldn’t do it, of course, without the time. I couldn’t do it without the playcalling.”

The dilemma for a Cleveland franchise that has seen nothing but dysfunction at quarterback for the past three seasons is that if Sanders continues to make the most of his opportunity, the coaching staff and executives will be under pressure to move Sanders up the depth chart.

The dilemma was reflected in head coach Kevin Stefanski’s postgame news conference Friday when he was peppered with questions about Sanders’ status and performance.

What does the game do to the Browns’ quarterback competition?

Stefanski: We’re really just focused on developing our players. We’re in evaluation mode. I’m pleased with where the guys are, but I’m not diving into a quarterback competition.

How will the extended playing time Shedeur is receiving help in evaluating where he stands in relation to his competition?

Stefanski: The situations were invaluable for Shedeur, for all of our offense. We got a third-and-1 where we had a quarterback sneak. I mean, there’s just a lot of football and that’s by design with him getting a ton of reps in this game, and then he’ll get a ton of reps next week as well. That’s all part of our development of our young players.

Did Shedeur surprise you?

Stefanski: We have an expectation for our quarterbacks, our players, when they’re playing the game in that position to go operate and make good decisions with the football. Our quarterback took care of the football, which is no small thing.

The Browns play the Eagles next week; will Sanders start that game as well?

Stefanski: I’m not there yet. I gotta see who’s healthy and all those other things.

In terms of swagger and excitement creation, Sanders is a reincarnation of Baker Mayfield, who played four seasons in Cleveland before being jettisoned in 2021. The organization has been in quarterback limbo ever since. The Browns traded for a tainted Deshaun Watson in 2022 and broke precedent by giving him a fully guaranteed salary. Browns co-owner Jimmy Haslem finally conceded earlier this year that the organization swung big and missed on Watson.

Now the Browns have a room with four quarterbacks, and the most exciting player among them, potentially, is the polarizing Sanders.

For critics who felt Sanders’ stock dropped simply because he was a young Black man with too much swagger, Friday’s performance was confirmation that Deion Sanders’ son is no fifth-round draft pick.

For critics who felt Shedeur was a byproduct of Coach Prime’s hype machine for the past five years and was drafted appropriately, Friday’s performance was an eye-opener — provided he continues to play and play well.

Shedeur Sanders’ numbers were good on Friday, but he has always brought something more than numbers to the table. During Friday’s postgame news conference, I remembered why a fifth-round pick who is No. 4 on the quarterback depth chart would draw so much attention to an otherwise non-descript preseason game. Sanders is often compelling.

He is the son of an NFL legend. He was born into wealth, notoriety and privilege. He is also part of an ongoing story that began with his father at an historically Black university, Jackson State, where his presence was celebrated — along with the presence of 2025 No. 2 overall draft pick Travis Hunter — as Black gold returning home.

Sanders left for a predominately white university, Colorado, which was seen by some as a betrayal and by others as grabbing opportunity when it presents itself. Now, he is trying to make it on his own, and this will no doubt be his most difficult adjustment. He has been a star since he was 12, has been the center of attention throughout his college career.

Now he’s fourth on the depth chart.

As he told reporters after Friday’s game: “It’s different things and different life lessons you gotta go through, and I haven’t gone through this situation that I’m in ever. So, it’s really just a test. I’m just thankful that I was able to see the [light of day] and get out there and be able to play. They didn’t have to let me play. So, anything and everything is good for me.”

While his notoriety is not irrelevant — that’s why I dropped what I was doing and flew to Charlotte — Sanders’ success will depend on him playing the way he played on Friday when he gets another opportunity.

That is what he was asked after Friday’s game: Does he think he will be given a fair shot to win the job?

“I just think about when I get out there just doing what I got to do,” he said. “Everything else is not in my hands, so why worry about it? I just don’t think that deep into everything because it’s nothing you’re going to be able to control. So why put energy in something that you can’t control? Whenever you get your opportunity, your number’s called, perform — at least do the bare minimum and win the game.”

As I listened to Sanders talk about how important it was for him to seize this moment, I thought of the lyrics of a song from my youth that have stuck in my mind for decades about lost opportunity. Gene Chandler sang, “Love only comes once, and when it comes, you’d better grab it, because it may not come no more.” That’s where Shedeur Sanders was on Friday and that’s where he is now with the Cleveland Browns.

The opportunity is here, and he’d better grab it because it may not come no more.