After a spectacular showing against the Tennessee Titans, head coach Kevin Stefanski felt comfortable in declaring Shedeur Sanders as the starting quarterback of the Cleveland Browns for the rest of the 2025 NFL season, at the very least. Immediately afterwards, he unfortunately stunk up the joint.
A dreadful performance against the Chicago Bears handed Cleveland one of its worst losses of the season. However, a bigger story coming out of the game was a rather bizarre development regarding one of the biggest weapons in any quarterback’s arsenal, his wristband. As a result, some, like NFL legend Shannon Sharpe, were calling for immediate action from the owners.
Shannon Sharpe Aghast at Wristband Controversy With Shedeur Sanders
A 31-3 loss for Cleveland saw Sanders finish the game with three turnovers, while throwing for under 200 yards, and completing just over 50% of his passes. Some were obvious mistakes by the rookie, who is ranked 36th on PFSN’s QBi, while others might not have been entirely his fault.
Regardless, it was a severe blow to the confidence that had been seeping into the entire fan base after a four-touchdown masterpiece against the Titans in Week 14. But, coming out of the game, a curious detail regarding his wristband became the talk of the football world.
As the Browns dropped to a 14-0 trail into the second quarter, the announcing team noted that the organization had made changes to Sanders’ wristband and playcalling. It left fans all across social media aghast.
Shedeur Sanders’ wristband controversy moment pic.twitter.com/e7t9Jn1uXw
— 📸 (@archive1517) December 16, 2025
After the game, Stefanski couldn’t provide a clear answer, leading the legendary tight end to chime in with some harsh words. Speaking on “The Nightcap Show,” he had an immediate reaction to the comments from the two-time Coach of the Year.
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“I’ve never heard of this before, and I don’t know how it happened. We don’t know why it happened. But if I’m Jimmy Haslam, I’m going to need some answers. I wanna know how, for the first two drives, the wrong plays were on the sheet. And we had to take the wristbands and make some adjustments to them.”
Now, Stefanski has come out and provided more specific details on the matter. As Daniel Oyefusi of ESPN noted, “The wristband was fine on the first drive, per Stefanski. ‘At some point after the first drive, one of the cards must have fallen out of Shedeur’s wristband, so when he went to that panel to look for it, it wasn’t in there.'”
They made the change with one of the wristbands on the sidelines, but the damage had already been done. Sharpe, on his end, wasn’t done with his frustrations, claiming that Haslem needed to ask other owners if they had dealt with such a situation before.
All in all, it is just another wrinkle added to the ever-growing story around Sanders and the constant circus it has become around the second-generation star. He is the starter for the rest of the season, as declared by Stefanski himself, so it will be interesting to see what shenanigans come up next in this wild journey.
Tennessee is two and twelve, I could have been the quarterback and had a great game. Chicago is ten and four and has an excellent chance of making the Super Bowl. Cleveland had no chance of competing with Chicago even with Brady at quarterback. Sanders needs to spend some time on the bench and learn behind a seasoned pro and pay his dues and not to be expected to ride on the coattails of his father! There, I said it!