Cleveland Browns quarterback Shedeur Sanders is one of the most polarizing players in the league. He is now entering his second season in the NFL, but has been tough to evaluate because of his offensive cast and a questionable coaching staff that may or may not have wanted to help him succeed in his rookie year.
Sanders completed 56.6% of his passes and threw for 7 touchdowns and 10 interceptions this past season in 7 starts. The stats weren’t great, but he was selected to the Pro Bowl, mostly because many quarterbacks opted out. However, pundits still do not believe that he is a viable starter for the Browns.
Browns Analyst Pushes Back on Shedeur Sanders’ Doubters
On Friday, Cleveland radio personality Jonathan Peterlin gave his insight on Sanders on his
“Afternoon Drive on the Fan” show on 92.3 with Spencer German to discuss how it is unfair to write Sanders off due to his weak supporting cast on offense, and he looks at it similarly to a backup quarterback that he has never seen before.
“I still look at Shedeur Sanders as that mystery box,” Peterlin said. “I still look at him as that unknown. I still look at him as the, I don’t know what he really can be at this level, because what he was last year wasn’t a fair shake.”
“There’s no way for me to say last year was a good look at it,” Peterlin continued. “So I look at him the same way as if he was a backup quarterback the entire time and we’d never seen him play.”
Cleveland bolstered its offensive line by signing former Los Angeles Chargers guard Zion Johnson to a three-year deal, veteran center Elgton Jenkins, formerly of the Green Bay Packers, to a two-year deal, and trading for Texans Tackle Tytus Howard.
Cleveland also holds three picks (No. 6, No. 24, and No. 39) in the top 40 selections to improve the wide receiver room.
Analyst Compares Sanders to Another High-Profile NFL Rookie
Peterlin went even further in assessing Sanders by comparing Sanders to another rookie who, in some circles, didn’t produce the numbers that they had hoped for in Las Vegas Raiders running back Ashton Jeanty. He pointed out that the Raider offensive line was just as bad as Cleveland’s, but no one is writing off Jeanty as a bust yet.
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“When you have that bad of an offensive line, that bad of wide receivers, I think about it like Ashton Jeanty, for instance, in Las Vegas,” Peterlin added. “Have you ever heard anyone, anyone, this offseason, come out and say, ‘I just don’t think Ashton Jeanty is it.’ You haven’t heard a single person say that.”
“Why? Because his offensive line was trash,” He continued. “It wasn’t a fair look at Ashton Jeanty. And I wondered the entire time, why does one thing apply to Ashton Jeanty, but doesn’t apply to Shedeur Sanders? Shouldn’t they apply equally?”
According to PFSN’s RB Impact Metric, Jeanty finished his rookie season as the 37th-ranked running back in the league with an impact score of 54.0. In comparison, according to PFSN’s QB Impact Metric, Sanders was the 46th-ranked quarterback in the league last season out of 51 eligible players.
Both players will have new coaching staffs and improved supporting casts, allowing fans and pundits alike to make a real assessment of them.
