Cleveland Browns quarterback Shedeur Sanders (12) is hit by Baltimore Ravens linebacker Trenton Simpson (32) during the second half of an NFL football game at Huntington Bank Field, Nov. 16, 2025, in Cleveland, Ohio.

Shedeur Sanders made his NFL debut Sunday, 11 weeks and 10 games into his rookie season. His Cleveland Browns had a 16-10 lead over the Baltimore Ravens when he entered the game. They lost, 23-16.

It wasn't just that Sanders failed to scratch out a single point against the league's 24th-ranked scoring defense. It's how frustratingly his journey unfolded to get there. Sanders looked like the same overmatched, flawed quarterback we saw in the preseason despite three months of NFL practices under his belt. When head coach Kevin Stefanski admitted his rookie quarterback -- well, the one drafted after Dillon Gabriel -- hadn't practiced with the team's starters at all this fall, it was both shocking and entirely expected.

Let's begin with the first four third downs of Sanders' regular season NFL career. They went sack (and fumble):

Interception:

a useful five-yard scramble on third-and-three, and then three plays later... a sack:

Each was a display of the symptoms that dragged his draft stock from potential top five pick to barely having a place in the first five rounds of the 2025 NFL Draft. When pressure came, Sanders didn't step up to buy time. He retreated backward, losing 10-plus yards on each negative play. When he did stand in the pocket and deliver the ball on third-and-long in the face of a big hit, the outcome was a throw to a spot where only bad things could happen.

These were the exact same issues that plagued him in the preseason, justified his draft slide and kept him buried behind Gabriel and a 41-year-old Joe Flacco on the depth chart. Sanders played 21 non-handoff snaps in the second half of Week 11. He gained a net 21 yards -- 63 combined passing and rushing yards, 27 lost to sacks and 15 more given up on a third down intentional grounding call.

The Ravens knew exactly what to do because the book on Sanders hasn't changed since he was taking exhibition snaps. Create static in the pocket and he bails in a way that increases the degree of difficulty significantly. At Colorado, he faced less athletic defensive fronts and had a cadre of skill players who outmatched opponents and could make plays.

In Cleveland he has neither advantage. He was unable to escape pressure either against lower level competition in the preseason -- he was sacked five times on 11 dropbacks for -41 yards by a squad of Los Angeles Rams backups in the Browns' exhibition finale. He got abused by Baltimore's 28th-ranked pressure rate Sunday. His tendency to run backward doesn't just put him at risk of losing yards but also limits his scope of vision downfield. And because he hasn't been playing with his starting wideouts and tight ends, players like Jerry Jeudy, David Njoku, Harold Fannin Jr. and Cedric Tillman don't know where to go in order to help him.

Thus, when he makes a solid throw downfield there's little support to elevate him.

That's a great back-shoulder deep ball for what could have been a game-tying touchdown. Sanders stood in the pocket and delivered a big boy throw, only for Gage Larvardain -- an undrafted rookie with two career NFL receptions to his name -- to have it knocked away at the last moment by veteran cornerback Chidobe Awuzie. That's the kind of throw that builds optimism except, whoops, one play later Sanders rushed through his progressions after scrambling backward under pressure and uncorked a fourth down throw to a covered target short of the line to gain.

Whatever silver linings you can find in Sanders' game -- a good throw or two downfield and some positive gains scrambling -- are immediately doused in the swirling whirlpool that was his NFL debut. There is simply no good way to spin a 25 percent completion rate. There is no way to justify one net yard per snap. Sanders led his offense for six drives in Week 11 and gained positive yardage on only half of them (and that's counting a two-yard three-and-out late in the third quarter).

Can Shedeur Sanders fix things?

It's possible. It's going to take a long time. He may need more help than the Browns can give him.

Gabriel's injury could open up more practice time with the Browns' starters, though even a single practice snap would qualify as "more." But Cleveland lacks the kind of playmaking infrastructure and advantages he had en route to Big 12 Player of the Year honors last winter. The Browns' 42.5 percent pressure rate allowed is second-worst in the NFL. Top wideout Jerry Jeudy has nine drops this season, tied with Jacksonville Jaguars' wideout Brian Thomas Jr. for most in the league. There's no Heisman Trophy-winning dual-threat demigod to answer his prayers downfield.

Sanders will have to change his game. He'll have to rely on a steady two-tight end offense behind Njoku and Fannin. He'll have to defer to fellow rookie Quinshon Judkins (96 rush yards over expected in 2025, eighth-best in the NFL) with a litany of handoffs. He'll have to effectively do some game manager stuff despite his history as a lightning bolt behind center.

That's going to be tough, but not impossible. Playing in Cleveland only steepens his learning curve. Sanders has to process reads more quickly, especially with the frequency his targets will be covered. He needs to escape pressure without running backward and losing double-digit yardage each sack.

He needs to tamp down his instincts to be a hero and simply put the Browns in position to make modest gains and live to fight another down; his 29 percent success rate -- how frequently an offense gains 50 percent of yards to go on first down, 70 percent on second and 100 percent on third or fourth -- would unsurprisingly be worst among 35 starting quarterbacks and four points lower than the current 35th place QB... Dillon Gabriel.

The upside is there's little risk in playing Sanders and seeing what he can learn. Things aren't going to get worse in a way that matters for the Browns. This is another lost season and each defeat brings them closer to a premium pick in the 2026 NFL Draft who could either salvage things or add his link to a chain of tragedy in Ohio.

But based on what we saw in Week 11, Shedeur Sanders looks every bit a fifth-round rookie who began his career as Cleveland's third-string QB.

This article originally appeared on For The Win: Shedeur Sanders is the QB we thought he was (bad)

Reporting by Christian D'Andrea, For The Win / For The Win

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