Dawgs By Nature
It’s no secret that one of the hottest topics in all of Cleveland has been Shedeur Sanders and his lack of playing time in 2025. In fact, it might’ve been one of the hottest topics in the entire league following his pre-2025 NFL Draft hype.
Kevin Stefanski and Co. were continually alluding to the fact that he wasn’t ready and that when he was, they’d put him out there. The entire world was seemingly mad at the organization for not giving Sanders first-team reps throughout the summer and preseason, but what Shedeur was struggling with doesn’t have to do with a lack of first-team reps.
It’s been increasingly obvious over the past two weeks that he has somewhat of an on-field processing problem that hasn’t been resolved yet, and it’s an issue that’s been killing drives over the past two games.
Shedeur has had a bad habit, dating back to his college days, of failing to see wide-open targets due to his need to make a big play. There were at least six instances against the 49ers where he could’ve taken an easy 6-10 yard completion, but instead held onto the ball and either got sacked or made a turnover-worthy throw downfield.
He needs to get the ball out faster to these wide-open targets that have been schemed open for a reason in the short to intermediate level of the field. Completing a deep ball because he extended a play, rather than hitting the open receivers underneath, isn’t necessarily a “good” play.
Tommy Rees is doing everything he can right now to give Sanders easy reads between the 20s, and he’s only reading the field correctly half the time. I understand that it’s his rookie year, and he may not have adjusted to the coverage speed yet, but these are fundamental route combinations and schemes that he’s missing.
He missed Jeudy on this standard “Ohio” combo to the sideline, which might’ve been why Jerry Jeudy was so frustrated. Sanders needs to see it and rip it as soon as Jeudy breaks to the boundary.
You can have the most physically talented quarterback in the league, but if he can’t process and do what he’s supposed to do on a given play, things aren’t going to end well.
In terms of arm talent and pocket awareness, Shedeur has everything that you would want from an NFL quarterback. I think that’s pretty obvious at this point. He just desperately needs to adjust his mental processing and learn to take what the defense gives him in crucial spots.
He can’t be holding onto the ball for 4+ seconds on plays designed to be quick hitters. This is going to continue resulting in turnover-worthy throws and sacks.
