Las Vegas Raiders star pass rusher Maxx Crosby sent a clear message to Shedeur Sanders ahead of his first start with the Cleveland Browns.
With Gabriel out due to a concussion, Sanders will make his first NFL start on Sunday. Ahead of his first start, Crosby will be going after Sanders throughout the game, but he admitted that he is happy for him.
“I feel like young guys are very unpredictable sometimes,” Crosby said about Sanders. “He has a lot of success at the college level, and he is getting his first start. It is going to be a fun battle. I watched a lot of him (Sanders). The majority of them. I know his family well; they are great people, and I always rooted for him. So, it is cool, I am happy for him, he is getting his first start.”
Although Crosby will be trying to sack Sanders, he is excited that the rookie is getting a chance to play for the Browns and prove he can be an NFL quarterback.
Sanders is also looking to improve on his lackluster outing in relief last week, as he held the ball for too long and was inaccurate.
Against the Baltimore Ravens, Sanders went 4-of-16 for 47 yards and an interception.
Sanders entered the 2025 NFL Draft with hopes of being a first-round pick.
However, the rookie quarterback fell to the fifth round to the Browns and began the year inactive. Yet, he will finally get a chance to start on Sunday, which he’s excited about. He’s also eager that he got all the first-team reps in practice.
“Yeah, I’m truly excited for that, knowing that, I have a piece in the offense and a say so and how things fit my eye and place the players exactly where they need to be,” Sanders said on Wednesday. ‘Seeing how they come in and out of routes, seeing the structure of the O-lineman, seeing a set, just having a feeling. Like I’m more of a feel type of person.
“So that’s how I learn. That’s how I do everything. I’m not a, ‘I’m just watching, it’s just going to happen.’ No, like, I got to be out there, feel it. I got to move around. It’s like so many details that it takes for me to feel my best and play my best and I’m doing everything in my power and the team’s doing everything to help me get prepared.”
Sanders also has the chance to continue as the starting quarterback if he continues to play well. But his focus is just on Sunday as he’s taking it one game at a time.
Ahead of Sanders’ first NFL start on Sunday, Browns offensive coordinator Tommy Rees said he plans to make the rookie feel as comfortable as possible.
Reese said they will call certain plays to make Sanders comfortable and firing on all cylinders.
“Yeah, without getting into specifics, obviously,” Rees said. “With any quarterback, with any player really, you want them to feel as comfortable as possible. For young players like Dillon (Gabriel) and Shedeur, that’s pulling from a lot of different avenues. That’s pulling from things that they’ve been comfortable with within your system, things you know that they like.
“So that’s our number one job, right? You want to make your quarterback comfortable; you want to call plays, you want to put in plays that breathe confidence into them as they hear them, as they call them, plays that they know they can make work.”
