BEREA, Ohio — Browns quarterback Shedeur Sanders will make his first NFL start on Sunday against the Las Vegas Raiders after being named QB1 on Wednesday by head coach Kevin Stefanski. It's a moment Sanders has been working for since being drafted by the Browns this spring.
Sanders has been in the QB2 role since the Browns traded veteran quarterback Joe Flacco at the start of October, moving third-round pick rookie Dillon Gabriel into the QB1 role.
However, after Gabriel sustained a concussion in the first half of the Week 11 game against the Baltimore Ravens, Sanders got his first regular-season action. The Browns turned to Sanders in the second half, but with quite literally no experience with the first team players, the outing wasn't a strong one.
"I don't think I played good. I don't think I played good at all. I think it's a lot of things we need to look at during the week and go and just get comfortable, even throwing routes with Jerry and throwing routes with all those guys. So I think that was my first ball to him all year. No, but other than that, I just think overall we just got to go next weekend and understand, so then we have a week to prepare stuff I like to do," Sanders said after the game.
Sanders went 4-for-16 with 46 yards, an interception and two sacks. He was the first to admit it wasn't his best outing, but he and the team both showed confidence that with some reps, it could look much different. On Wednesday before practice, Sanders said as much, looking forward to his first practice reps with the starting offense.
"Just being able to go in there, breaking that barrier and coming off the sideline for so many weeks and being able to do that. I don't think a lot of people understand how challenging that is from a rookie going into a game. Now, a lot of NFL vets, backup quarterbacks, they've been in the league, you feel me? I'm just coming out of college, so it's a different feeling, but I enjoy it as the game went on and I settled in, okay, I know what's going on. As long as I get comfortable, which I am each and every day, seeing the guys running the routes and being out there, it feels good. So I know for sure I'm going to do everything in my power and as a team, we're doing everything in our power to make sure we have success on Sunday," Sanders said.
On Wednesday, the Browns' first practice of the week, preparing for their Week 12 matchup with the Raiders, the team announced Gabriel was not expected to practice, still in concussion protocol. Stefanski didn't waste time making a decision on who would be QB1.
"Shedeur is going to start at quarterback. Dillon is still in the concussion protocol. He is improving, but obviously, we got to put a plan together for all of our players," Stefanski said to open his Wednesday press conference.
While Sanders didn't have any first-team reps from the moment he was drafted to the Browns to the moment he took the field against the Ravens, this week, he'll get every rep in practice.
"I'm truly excited for that. Knowing that I have a piece of offense and a say so and how things fit my eye and place the players exactly where they need to be. Seeing how they come in and out of route, seeing the structure of the O-linemen, seeing their sets, seeing, just having a feeling. I'm more of a feel type of person, so that's how I learn, that's how I do everything. I'm not just, I'm going to just watch it, it's just going to happen. No, I got to be out there, feel it, I got to move around. It's like so many details that it takes for me to feel my best and play my best. I'm doing everything in my power and the team's doing everything to help me get prepared," Sanders said.
Stefanski said this week will be all about Sanders translating his scout team reps and work from the meeting rooms onto the field as he prepares to be the 42nd quarterback to start for the Browns since 1999.
"I think it just goes back to we talk about taking the practice field to the game field, and you try and take the meeting room to the practice field. Like I told the team this morning, we throw so much at them, so much information, so many details about our opponent and our game plan and those types of things, and I think our players do a really nice job of taking that to heart in the meeting room and then going out on the practice field. And Wednesdays are typically the day where you’re still crystallizing it in your mind, if you will, and still getting some of the details down, but by the end of Wednesday, you feel really good about the base game plan. So I think that’s just all quarterbacks are like that, where you get the game plan on Tuesday for a quarterback and you start spending some time with it, and then probably the base game plan starts to really cement in your head sometime around Wednesday evening," Stefanski said.
Sanders' teammates, who have spent perhaps the most time working with him, said that they have full confidence that this week of work being able to translate Sanders' skillsets on the field come Sunday.
Ask tight end Sal Cannella, who has worked closely with Sanders from the spring through the summer and even more on the scout team as this season has gone on.
"I think it's just what you see each and every day. How he prepares, how he practices, how serious he takes everything and then just the raw talent." Cannella said. "I see the type of balls he can throw, the type of plays he can make, and I'm just excited to see him go out there and put on a show."
The work for Sanders began Wednesday and will continue through the week before he makes his NFL starting debut in Vegas Sunday with the 4:05 p.m. kickoff.
