For most of Shedeur Sanders’ rookie season, his father, NFL legend Deion Sanders, stayed out of the spotlight.
He didn’t talk much about his son’s rookie journey or the Cleveland Browns, knowing his son would have to carve his own path in the league.
Now that a new coaching staff is in place and Shedeur is looking to win the QB1 job, Deion has been a bit more talkative.
In a recent appearance on “The Barbershop” podcast with Garrett Bush, the Hall of Famer dug deep into all things Browns, and he pointed out the only two things they need to get to the next level.
Deion Sanders is impressed by the Browns’ rookies
“Did you care to look at that rookie class last season?” Deion said. “The rookie class this season, who I know they haven’t played, they haven’t put it on grass. But they’re building something that is tremendous, and they’re not too far away. Of course, they need stability at the quarterback position. Of course, they need stability on the offensive line. Everything else, to me, they got it. They got it.”
Notably, Deion didn’t publicly advocate for Shedeur to be the one who brought that stability to Cleveland, though the subtext might be pretty clear.
Of course, that decision will ultimately be up to new head coach Todd Monken, who admitted that he would like to get that out of the way as early as possible.
Sanders showed flashes of strong play during his rookie season, but he also ranked near the bottom in multiple categories.
That said, he wouldn’t be the first rookie quarterback to struggle, and he wasn’t put in a position to succeed or given a fair shot for the most part.
There’s little to no upside to playing Deshaun Watson in the final year of his contract, given how things have fared since he arrived in Northeast Ohio.
Still, it’ll be up to Shedeur to take a leap and prove that he’s the guy the Browns have been craving for more than two decades now.
As for the revamped offensive line, the Browns added potentially five new starters and more depth pieces in the offseason, so they’re clearly trending in the right direction after years of struggles.