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The Cleveland Browns got their preseason underway on Friday night against the Carolina Panthers, and all eyes were on Shedeur Sanders for his NFL debut.
With Dillon Gabriel and Kenny Pickett sidelined due to hamstring injuries and Joe Flacco sitting out due to his veteran status, the door was wide open for Sanders to come in and impress the Cleveland coaching staff. Some thought that with a good performance, the Colorado product may even be able to move up from his current fourth-string spot on the depth chart.
The fifth-round pick played nearly three quarters before recent free-agent addition Tyler Huntley came in and took over for the fourth quarter, but he showed off some impressive traits in the first three periods. Overall, Sanders finished 14-for-23 with 138 yards and two touchdowns. He also ran the ball four times for 19 yards.
Let’s dive into the game as a whole and look at how Sanders looked in his first NFL action.
For the most part, Sanders looked like his college self on Friday night in both good ways and bad. However, the good popped up time and time again as he led the Browns up and down the field in the second quarter.
The first thing that stuck out about Sanders was his timing, especially working in quick game. On early downs, Sanders got the ball out of his hand on time for the most part and kept the offense on schedule, which led to more manageable situations on late downs. Sanders also showed his trademark toughness that became a staple of his game at Colorado, hanging in tight pockets behind the Browns’ backup offensive line and still delivering the ball down the field.
While Sanders had some uncharacteristic misses underneath on a few in-breaking routes, but his accuracy down the field was on point. His first NFL touchdown came on a bootleg out to the left where Sanders drifted out of the pocket and got his feet set before firing a perfectly-placed strike into the back of the end zone, just over the outstretched arms of a sinking cornerback, to Kaden Davis for his first career touchdown.
Sanders throws a TD pic.twitter.com/2f1X6VKq92
— Billy M (@BillyM_91) August 8, 2025
Sanders’ second touchdown was another excellent play. He quickly dodged a blitzed up the middle, allowing his running back to pick up the pressure, before firing a bullet on a dig route into a tight window in the end zone for the duo’s second scoring connection of the night.
Shedeur Sanders to Kaden Davis AGAIN for the TD!
CLEvsCAR on @NFLNetwork
Stream on @NFLPlus pic.twitter.com/9ucfAJiMNY— NFL (@NFL) August 9, 2025
On that second touchdown drive, Sanders rolled out to his right and floated a beautiful touch pass on the run to Luke Floriea, who reeled it in with one hand.
Shedeur Sanders buys time and finds Luke Floriea for the...
