Cleveland Browns quarterback Shedeur Sanders is facing incomprehensible pressure heading into his first NFL season. The world is watching Sanders, and after sliding all the way to the fifth round of the draft, there is definitely a chip on his shoulder.
Opinions have been all over the place on Sanders. Some feel he will be a franchise quarterback. Others think he will be mediocre. Then you have a rather large faction that is expecting him to flop.
Well, Dan Labbe of Cleveland.com recently revealed a very surprising comparison for Sanders, likening him to San Francisco 49ers star Brock Purdy.
“The name that I keep coming back to is Brock Purdy,” Labbe said on the Orange and Brown Talk podcast. “What if Shedeur can convince these guys that he can be Brock Purdy, who for some reason is still divisive, I think among some football people on social media. But he’s a really good quarterback. He just got paid a bunch of money. He’s been to a Super bowl, probably should have won that Super Bowl. Like if Shedeur Sanders convinces me he’s Brock Purdy, who by the way wasn’t a Week 1 starter, that’s about as good an outcome as you could get from this.”
Most Browns fans would probably be more than happy if Sanders becomes Purdy, who finished fourth in MVP voting during his first full season as 49ers starter in 2023.
Purdy had a bit of a down year this past season, but San Francisco was also ravaged by injuries, so it's not like he had a ton of help. Honestly speaking, Purdy is a good quarterback, and considering that there are some who feel that Sanders will never actually make it in the NFL, Purdy would represent a very respectable ceiling for the 23-year-old.
It should also be noted that Purdy was selected with the final pick of the 2022 NFL Draft, so there is somewhat of a similarity there, with both Sanders and Purdy being Day 3 picks and all.
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