Browns' Shedeur Sanders sends defiant message after winning first start

Cleveland Browns rookie quarterback Shedeur Sanders did enough in his first regular-season start at the Las Vegas Raiders on Sunday to help the Browns earn a 24-10 win that improved them to 3-8 on the season. 

Following the victory, Sanders shared somewhat of a defiant message to those who have doubted him since even before he fell to the fifth round of the 2025 NFL Draft. 

Shedeur Sanders seems to call his shot after win

"Everybody starts at different places and, like I say, just because I didn't get the summer reps, just because I wasn't in the best situation for me to be prepared to go out there and execute from a summer standpoint, that's how life is. Everybody's not in the best situation, but it's no excuse," Sanders explained, per Chris Easterling of the Akron Beacon Journal. "You’ve got to go out there and perform. There's no choice, there's no question. Nobody cares if this was one week of prep. Who cares? So a lot of people want to see me fail, and that ain't going to happen. That ain’t going to happen." 

Sanders was referencing how he was buried on the Browns depth chart from the start of springtime workouts through early October, and also about how head coach Kevin Stefanski previously reserved first-team practice reps for fellow rookie signal-caller Dillon Gabriel. Gabriel suffered a concussion on Nov. 16 that kept him out of action on Sunday. 

Sanders was hardly flawless against the Raiders, as he completed 11-of-20 passes for 209 yards with one touchdown and one interception. 66 of those yards were picked up when rookie running back Dylan Sampson caught a short pass and then took the ball to the house for a touchdown halfway through the fourth quarter. 

Will "thankful" Shedeur Sanders keep starting for Browns? 

As of Sunday evening, Stefanski wasn't ready to publicly declare who would start Cleveland's home game against the San Francisco 49ers on Nov. 30 if Gabriel clears the concussion protocol during the week. Following the win over the Raiders, Sanders seemed to want to focus more on what he had accomplished than on what the future could hold regarding the Browns' quarterback situation. 

"I feel like they respect the way I go about my business, and being a backup and everything, sometimes you have to compromise your personality and change the way how you do things to never step on anybody's toes," Sanders added during his postgame comments. "So the fact that I got an opportunity and I was able to show the organization, show everybody who I really am, then that was truly exciting. So I was off balance for a little bit, the past couple months, my life, but it was different. But I'm thankful to be back where I am."

7-4 San Francisco hosts the Carolina Panthers (6-5) on Monday night.