Shedeur Sanders' Surprising Message To Dad Deion Sanders After Cleveland Browns Debut

He may not admit it himself, but Cleveland Browns rookie quarterback Shedeur Sanders looked impressive in his NFL preseason debut against the Carolina Panthers on Friday evening.

The former Colorado Buffaloes star threw for 138 yards, rushed for 19 and completed two touchdown passes while helping the Browns to a 30-10 victory. In turn, Sanders has seemingly proved worthy of seeing first-team reps in practice as he competes for the Browns' starting quarterback job.

Shedeur Sanders' Post-NFL Debut Message To Deion Sanders

Shedeur Sanders Message Father Breakout Cleveland Browns Debut Deion Coach Prime NFL Preseason Quarterback Colorado Buffaloes — Colorado football coach Deion Sanders hugs his son, Shedeur Sanders, before facing Texas Tech in a Big 12 football game Saturday, Nov. 9, 2024, at Jones AT&T Stadium. | Stephen Garcia/Avalanche-Journal / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

While he certainly gained the respect of many doubters in the NFL world, Sanders still believes he could've performed better in his first preseason opportunity. After Sanders' day was done late in the third quarter, NFL Network's Aditi Kinkhabwala grabbed the former Buff for an interview and asked him to share a message to his father, Colorado coach Deion Sanders.

“Sorry, Pops,” Sanders told NFL Network. “I ain’t do what I was supposed to do fully. We’ll live to see another opportunity.”

Deion Sanders was active on X (formerly Twitter) throughout his son's first preseason start, sharing his excitement for Shedeur's strong showing. An apology likely wasn't necessary in the eyes of "Coach Prime."

Yes Lawd! Yes! @ShedeurSanders
— COACH PRIME (@DeionSanders) August 8, 2025

Shedeur Sanders Grades His First Cleveland Browns Start

Shedeur once again downplayed his performance in a postgame interview with NFL Network's Cameron Wolfe. When asked to grade his play, the recent fifth-round draft pick gave another humble response.

“I would say C+,” Shedeur Sanders said. “It’s passing because we got the win. That’s first and foremost, and that’s extremely important, but 'Pops' said, ‘Take advantage of the opportunity,’ and I don’t feel like I did. So, I feel like I let him down a little bit. On the team behalf, I feel like I ran the offense pretty well. I feel like I got to my decisions and there’s some things I could have done better — a different process where I could speed my feet up."

Many in and outside of Cleveland would likely disagree with Sanders' assessment of his play. Although there's always room for improvement, he certainly made positive strides in the Browns' four-man starting quarterback competition, which also includes third-round draft pick Dillon Gabriel and veterans Kenny Pickett and Joe Flacco.

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What's Next For Shedeur Sanders?

The Browns will return to practice this upcoming week ahead of their second preseason game against the Philadelphia Eagles on Saturday, Aug. 16. Sanders will "get a ton of reps," according to coach Kevin Stefanski.

"I noticed a lot of people count on me to succeed, so I just got to make sure I stay positive and stay everything throughout whatever's going on, because it truly don't matter because you got a lot of people that believe in you," Sanders told NFL Network.