It’s a tragic metaphor that Cleveland Browns rookie quarterback Shedeur Sanders’ home was robbed while he made his NFL regular season debut last Sunday in the second half of a game against the Baltimore Ravens. Cleveland, to hear Sanders’ stans tell it, has been intent on stealing something from him: practice snaps with the Browns first-string offense, a real opportunity to compete for the starting job, essentially his chance to be a star.
Of course, we’ve been hearing about Sanders being robbed — by the league at large — since April. His Hall of Fame father, Deion Sandershed, who coached him at Jackson State University and the University of Colorado had called Shedeur one of the “surest bets” in the NFL Draft. But not only was the young Sanders not drafted in the first round as many of his fans — and even some NFL draft analysts — expected, he wasn’t taken in the second, third or even fourth rounds. Five quarterbacks, including fellow Browns rookie Dillon Gabriel, were drafted before Sanders’ name was called in the fifth round as the overall 144th pick. The difference between being picked first overall as quarterback Cam Ward was and 144th is about $44 million.
Of course, we’ve been hearing about Sanders being robbed — by the league at large — since April
A conspiracy theory quickly developed among those who believe Sanders has first-round talent that NFL teams decided to deny him that higher draft position (and the money that comes with it) to humble him or send a disapproving message to his braggadocious father.
Today, Sanders, who’ll make his first NFL start, has a chance to steal the narrative (and maybe even the Browns’ starting job) for himself. The porous defense of the Las Vegas Raiders could be exactly what Sanders needs after his wobbly, uninspiring performance against the Ravens. The Browns had the lead when Sanders entered the game after starter Gabriel got a concussion. But that lead disappeared as Sanders completed only four of his 16 pass attempts for 47 yards, tossed an interception and scrambled into two sacks.
Sanders’ fans leaped to his defense, though. They blamed Browns head coach Kevin Stefanski for denying their hero practice with the starters. That argument almost sounds cogent. Sanders, who was out of sync with his receivers, could have benefited from some practice time with them. But NFL backups don’t typically practice with the first-team offense. The argument also ignores that Gabriel, Sunday’s starter, is also a rookie who hasn’t mastered the team’s offense and, thus, might have needed as much practice with the other starters as he could get.
A hard lesson for many rookies, including extremely hyped ones like Sanders, is that NFL rosters are brutal hierarchies and that being a backup means being treated like a backup and not a starter. The 2-8 Raiders have the league’s 19th-ranked pass defense; they can be had. Sanders has finally had all week to practice with the receivers he’ll throw to in-game.
All that said, the Browns have provided plenty of fodder for fans to claim it has sabotaged Sanders. Stefanski appears to have been saddled with Sanders by higher-ups who may not have fully considered that sending the coach a quarterback he didn’t want would add more chaos to an already dysfunctional organization and team. Sanders may need a much less dysfunctional situation if he’s to succeed on his own merit–and he may have squandered the chance to play somewhere else. His father said on a September podcast back that the Ravens and Philadelphia Eagles were interested in drafting Shedeur, but he didn’t want to be backup to their entrenched franchise quarterbacks. As Sanders’ stock fell in this year’s draft, some of his detractors, engaging in some of the worst stereotypes about Black men, described him as hopelessly arrogant and entitled, but he has handled his situation as a back-up admirably As Sanders’ stock fell in this year’s draft, some of his detractors, engaging in some of the worst stereotypes about Black men, described him as hopelessly arrogant and entitled, but he has handled his situation as a back-up admirably. When he was asked last week about replacing Gabriel, the first thing he did was criticize the Browns fans who booed Gabriel’s play and cheered when his injury cleared a path for Sanders to play. Today offers him another shot to change the stories that have been told about him.
Keith Reed
Keith Reed is an award-winning journalist and a past senior editor at ESPN. His work has appeared in The Boston Globe, The Root, Vibe, Essence and elsewhere. 
Instead, Sanders landed in a quarterback room that included Joe Flacco, who’s since been traded to the Cincinnati Bengals; Kenny Pickett, who has since been traded to the Raiders; Gabriel and Deshaun Watson, who the team has already said it plans to move on from despite still paying him $46 million this season. Shuffling through quarterbacks like playing cards is a cultural feature of the Browns organization. Gabriel was the 41st starting quarterback for the team since 1999. Today, Sanders will be the 42nd. By comparison, the Ravens, a division rival, have only had 25 quarterbacks start since 1995. Another division rival, The Pittsburgh Steelers, have only had 17. Given all the Browns’ chaos, and the team’s culture of football malpractice, it’s not surprising that when Sanders entered the game last week, he looked like he hadn’t improved since the preseason.
If he balls out, he’ll take a big step toward overcoming the naysayers, proving himself on a team that can’t get out of its own way and to a coach who it seems would rather start anyone else at QB. His cultish fan following will cheer obviously because they’re convinced he’s a superstar in waiting. But his playing well — even winning today’s game — won’t prove that the Browns or the league have robbed him of anything.