Drew Brees' ex-teammate comes to Shedeur Sanders' defense despite Browns QB's disastrous outing

Shedeur Sanders made his much-awaited NFL debut at Huntington Bank Field on Sunday against the Baltimore Ravens. He entered the field in the second half following Dillon Garbiel's first-half collision, which resulted in a concussion.

The former Colorado Buffaloes star's first game as a pro did not go as planned. Sanders threw 75% incompletions and didn't breach the 50-passing-yard mark. However, former NFL quarterback Chase Daniel backed him up despite the disappointing performance.

"I wanted to hop on here and talk about Shedeur Sanders," Daniel said on Monday. "The performance wasn't great. It needs to get better. He didn't have any help. You're thrust into the game and you're expected to play at an extremely high level, especially now because of his name, and then when you don't play, you're getting a lot more hate.

"It's very difficult to jump in at a moment's notice when you haven't had any reps with the ones since training camp. In scout team, you're running the opponent's plays for 14 years I did it. You have to change your process. If he gets a full week of reps, we can actually analyze how well he plays."

Sanders completed 4 of 16 passes for 47 yards with one interception and two sacks. Despite the 23-16 loss, he has the support of his teammates. Six-time Pro Bowler Myles Garrett urged Sanders not to let a few drives affect him.

The Cleveland Browns rookie had to wait until Week 11 to throw his first regular-season pass. He entered the 2025 NFL draft as a consensus top-three pick but dropped to No. 144.

Shedeur Sanders opens up about his NFL debut

Shedeur Sanders was behind Joe Flacco, Kenny Pickett and Dillon Gabriel in the Browns quarterback depth chart upon his arrival in Cleveland. Pickett and Flacco were traded, and he was named the backup of Gabriel just a few weeks into the regular season.

Sanders took responsibility for Sunday's 23-16 loss to Baltimore.

"I don’t think I played good,” Sanders told reporters. “I don’t think I played good at all. I think there’s a lot of things we need to look at during the week and go and just get comfortable even throwing routes with Jerry and throwing routes with all those guys."

Sanders also revealed that he threw his first pass to Jerry Jeudy all year. He is optimistic about next week's game and believes the offense can do better. The Browns (2-8) will be on the road on Sunday to take on the Las Vegas Raiders.