Earlier in the week, it was a little bit of a surprise when the Cleveland Browns named Shedeur Sanders the starting quarterback for the preseason opener against the Carolina Panthers, but with a handful of guys dealing with some bumps and bruises, the Colorado product was given the stage to shine.
Sanders arrived at Bank of America Stadium in fashion with a few buddies and a speaker blaring his music through the hallways on the way to the visiting locker room. The video quickly went viral on social media, as you would expect.
Sanders also made his presence felt on the field, carving up the Panthers’ defense in the short and intermediate game, completing 14-of-23 passes for 138 yards and a pair of touchdowns. He also carried the ball four times for 19 yards and evaded pressure on numerous occasions. Sanders more than looked the part; he looked confident and comfortable, something you don’t typically see from a rookie making his debut.
In his postgame press conference, Panthers head coach Dave Canales was asked about his thoughts on Sanders’ debut, combined with what he saw from him the previous two days in joint practices.
“Very impressed. Extending plays when he had to, getting the ball out of his hand quickly. I thought he did a great job of not sitting there in the pocket to see what was going to happen. He either took off and extended and made some plays with his legs, or he got the ball out quickly to a check-down. I was just really impressed with the way he operated out there and really kept himself pretty clean for the most part.”
For what it’s worth, much of Sanders’ night was against the second and third units after the starters played the majority of the first quarter. Still, it wasn’t the ordinary performance you’d see from a fifth-round pick, and that’s probably because he should have been drafted well beforehand, but that’s a debate for another day.
The Panthers will be back at it next week when they hit the road to take on the Houston Texans on Saturday. Kickoff is set for 1 p.m. ET.
