What Browns' Shedeur Sanders recently learned from Giants' Jameis Winston

New York Giants quarterback Jameis Winston spent the 2024 season with a Cleveland Browns side that is currently starting rookie Shedeur Sanders at the position. 

Winston started a pair of November games for the Giants when rookie Jaxson Dart was sidelined with a concussion. On Wednesday, Sanders revealed that he spoke with Winston "a couple weeks ago" after the veteran "threw for some crazy yards" during a contest. 

Jameis Winston gave Shedeur Sanders advice

"'The most important thing is the wins,'" Sanders said about Winston's message, per the Browns' website. "Having that guidance, having that knowledge from a vet like him, it truly helped me understand a little bit more. I always knew, of course, winning is the final goal. That’s what everybody’s in this league to do. So, you just gotta focus on that. And the more plays you stack, the more completions you rack up, the better chance you have at winning. So, have I been playing winning football lately? Nah, I don’t think so. But it’s something I have self-evaluated and applied to my game."

Most recently, Sanders completed 18-of-35 passes for 177 yards with no touchdowns, three interceptions and five sacks taken in Cleveland's 31-3 blowout loss at the Chicago Bears on Dec. 14. Thus far, Sanders has gone 1-3 as a starter with the 3-11 Browns. 

"We both people," Sanders said about connecting with Winston. "Jameis not here right now, so I don’t think it’s respectful to speak on his behalf in a locker room full of other great teammates and other quarterbacks that’s here, that’s helped give me wisdom also. But that’s just a person. That’s just a thing that triggered me to just speak his name because that was a conversation we had at one point."

Shedeur Sanders eager to put the "worst" behind him

Recent whispers have hinted that Browns owner Jimmy Haslam could part ways with head coach Kevin Stefanski and/or general manager Andrew Berry. History suggests a new regime would likely start over with a different quarterback, but Sanders is doing all he can to focus on the task at hand. 

Cleveland next hosts the 10-4 Buffalo Bills. 

"I get excited knowing I'm able to face those challenges, because you got to understand, this year right here, it's the worst it's going to be," Sanders added on Wednesday, according to Daniel Oyefusi of ESPN. "... This [is] the foundation. This is where I'm building from. This is where I'm understanding different things. This [is] where everything's translating for me. So I'm excited about it. You know, I'm extremely excited about it, because I know. I know we're going to get them. I know we're going to get them eventually."