Shedeur Sanders is expected to make his first NFL start for the Cleveland Browns after an injury to the starting quarterback.
Deion Sanders expressed fondness for the Browns’ injured starting quarterback, Dillon Gabriel.
The coach alluded to behind-the-scenes challenges his son has faced this season with the Browns.
Colorado football coach Deion Sanders said Nov. 18 that he didn’t know yet if he’d make it to Las Vegas to watch his son Shedeur’s first expected start as an NFL quarterback. But Sanders also said he likes quarterback Dillon Gabriel − Shedeur’s teammate with the Cleveland Browns − and knows what’s been going on ‘behind the curtains’ this season in Cleveland.
‘I think a lesser man would have crumbled,’ Deion Sanders said of his son at his weekly news conference in Boulder.
Shedeur Sanders, a rookie with the Browns, came off the bench in a 23-16 loss against Baltimore Nov. 16 after Gabriel, the starting quarterback, suffered a concussion. Gabriel is expected to miss the Brown’s Nov. 23 game, putting Shedeur in the spotlight against the Las Vegas Raiders.
“Haven’t made that decision as of yet,” Deion Sanders said Tuesday about going to Las Vegas. “I’m so focused on what we have at hand. I’m not thinking about that, although I just got off the phone with him a minute ago.”
Sanders’ Colorado team hosts Arizona State in a 8 p.m. game Nov. 22. His team is 3-7 this year and often practices on Sundays.
Deion Sanders said he’s fond of Dillon Gabriel
The father said he was “in tears” after learning in his office in Boulder that his son finally saw his first action in a regular-season game last Sunday. He said he predicted to Shedeur beforehand that he would play against the Ravens.
“I thought the Ravens would have played better early on to provoke him getting in,” Sanders said Tuesday. “I didn’t want him to get in by the injury because I’m fond of Dillon, and I want him to be successful as well. But I didn’t want that to happen.”
Deion Sanders alludes to issues ‘behind the curtains’
Shedeur Sanders came back from a fractured back that he suffered at Colorado in 2023 and entered the NFL draft in April as a projected first-round pick. But then he fell all the way to the fifth round and Cleveland, which also drafted Gabriel in the third round. Fans of Sanders have questioned why the Browns didn’t give him a better chance until Sunday, when he completed 4 of 16 passes for 47 yards with an interception against the Ravens.
“I was happy for him just getting the opportunity and running on that field because I know the fight behind the fight,” Deion Sanders said. “Yeah, if I could say that modestly. I know what’s been transpiring behind the curtains, and I’m just proud of him, because he’s not just saying the right things, he’s doing and living the right things. That’s just who he is.”
Deion Sanders said ‘a lesser man would have crumbled’
The father said he’s been providing advice to Shedeur and is even trying to “buy a house together” with him. He said he’s proud of him.
“Thank God that God prepared him for everything he’s dealing with,” Deion Sanders said. “I mean, I think a lesser man would have crumbled. But he’s been built for this, and who else is built for the adversity like he is? Like, going into the NFL? I don’t think it’s too many quarterbacks that have (been) built like that for the adverse situations and not having the best of things to happen around him.”
Follow Brent Schrotenboer @Schrotenboer. Email: bschrotenb@usatoday.com
(This story was updated with new information.)