Shedeur Sanders’ highly anticipated first career start came in the Cleveland Browns‘ 24-10 win against the Las Vegas Raiders. Demand has been high from fans and the national media to start the former Colorado Buffalo amidst another dreadful Browns (3-8) season.
I chose 5 plays from his first NFL start to break down in order to offer a fair assessment of his play and what it could mean for Sanders and the Browns moving forward.
52 Yard Completion to Bond
The big play of the day came on this first-quarter completion to Isaiah Bond for 52 yards. Sanders, who has often faced scrutiny for bailing out of the pocket too soon, has no choice here. The Raiders bring 7 on a blitz, which obliterates the Browns’ offensive line (a theme in this game).
Sanders escapes right, keeps his eyes downfield, and finds Bond, wide open. He delivers a beautiful ball to the receiver in stride, all while avoiding the immense pressure.
This play is not unlike his college highlights, but it is encouraging to see that he brought that playmaking ability to the next level of competition.
Sanders’ Interception
For a fifth-round rookie starting his first NFL game, Sanders did well avoiding dangerous turnovers on all but one play. He predetermines this throw to Jerry Jeudy, but was caught by the defense and Charles Snowden, who intercepts the pass.
Snowden begins to trail Dylan Sampson to the flat, but keeps his eyes on the quarterback. As Sanders begins to throw, Snowden follows his eyes back to the middle of the field, where he undercuts the pass to Jeudy and intercepts it.
Sanders saw Snowden start to the flat and cut it loose, not expecting him to read and react so quickly, all the while, David Njoku is open in the center of the field. The predetermined throw and misreading of the defense led to this interception. Surely, a lesson learned for Shedeur.
Bailing Too Soon
In my pre-draft analysis, I noted that Sanders has “good pocket movement, but lazy drop backs and bails out early“. In this instance, he lacks the positive pocket movement and displays an early bailout. The 4-man rush is well handled by the offensive line, with space to step up as needed.
As Sanders reached his plant foot, the defender covering Jerry Jeudy slips, leaving him wide open. If the QB were to step into the pocket and throw the ball on time, he has a wide open receiver to hit in stride along the sideline.
Instead, Sanders bails left and finds the open receiver late. By that time, it’s difficult to get his shoulders square and deliver an accurate ball to the closing window, causing an uncatchable pass. More poise in the pocket would have served Sanders well, but it’s not unlike a play from a typical rookie QB.
Gun-shy
Another trait typical of a rookie quarterback is being gun-shy, or hesitant to trust his eyes. Again, scrambling left, this time by design, Sanders fails to fire the pass within the structure of the play, leading to an incomplete pass and a missed opportunity on a chunk completion.
Kevin Stefanski drew this up perfectly. Jerry Jeudy is lined up alone on the wide side of the field with a corner in man-to-man and a safety over the top. The hard play action with the 3 tight end set draws the safety in hard on the run fake, leaving Jeudy on an island with the corner. Sanders rolls left, finding Jeudy one-on-one, but fails to fire the strike.
It was the perfect play call at the perfect time, but Sanders hesitated. He was in a prime position to make the throw, but held onto the ball before throwing it out of bounds. It’s typical of a rookie to be late on reads or not trust their eyes, but this was no doubt practiced during the week and should have been an easy completion.
Sanders has the arm talent to complete this throw. Jeudy ran the route perfectly, and was open (as he was a lot in this game), but Sanders did not pull the trigger. To make it in the NFL, he’ll have to trust what the coach calls, trust his eyes, and trust his arm to be successful.
66 Yard TD Pass to Sampson
Although Sanders didn’t do much of the work, it would be unfair to leave it out of the discussion. The 66-yard catch-and-run for a touchdown by Dylan Sampson put the game on ice. Sanders stares down the middle of the field to hold the defenders before flipping his hips and delivering an accurate swing pass to Sampson, who catches it in stride and takes 66 yards for the house call.
Analysis
- Highlight play scrambling to his right. Eyes downfield, accurate downfield pass
- Complete command of the offense
- Positive body language
- Often bails from the pocket too soon, or without pressure
- Struggled with timing routes, often late with passes/reads
- Inaccurate or uncomfortable throwing while scrambling left. Needs work flipping hips/shoulders to make the throw. Those are mechanics that can and will be coached
- Offensive line is a problem, but made worse by bailing under no pressure
- Jerry Jeudy is often open, but not getting enough looks
- Would have liked to see more crossing patterns – he threw them well in college
Shedeur Sanders looked like a rookie QB in his first start. However, not a 5th round pick. The 2nd round grade I gave Sanders was on par with what I saw on film against the Raiders. The on-field inadequacies I saw are coachable. Mechanics, timing, trusting your read.
Sanders should be the starter for the rest of the season. His play may get worse before it gets better as Stefanski opens it up; also, the competition will get tougher. But he showed enough to warrant an extended look. If he takes the coaching and improves upon his performances week after week, he may get a shot at being the Browns’ QB1 of the future.
