Shedeur Sanders Gives Honest Grade for Performance in Browns Preseason Debut

Eva Geitheim | Aug 9, 2025

Shedeur Sanders grades his performance from his preseason debut with the Browns. / Bob Donnan-Imagn Images

Shedeur Sanders impressed in his two-touchdown preseason debut during the Browns' win over the Panthers, but the fifth-round pick came away feeling there were plenty of areas he could have been better on Friday.

Following the 30-10 victory, Sanders told NFL Network's Cameron Wolfe that he would give his performance a C+, a grade that seemed to surprised Wolfe.

"It was passing because we got the win," Sanders explained. "That's first and foremost and that's extremely important. ... On the team behalf, I feel like I ran the offense pretty well. I feel like I got to my decisions and then some things I could have done better, different process where I could speed my feet up. I'm thankful for the opportunity, I'm happy we won, but it's definitely still time to go to work."

“I’m playing for people who don’t have a voice.”

My @nflnetwork 1-on-1 with #Browns QB Shedeur Sanders after his strong preseason debut. He critically gave himself a C+ on day and pledged more to come. pic.twitter.com/PMYlb5oHCn

— Cameron Wolfe (@CameronWolfe) August 9, 2025

Sanders said again that he felt he let his dad, Deion Sanders, down, noting that he needs to get into a better rhythm early on.

Though Sanders had an overall good showing, he and the offense did get off to a slow start and did not score until a turnover from the defense put them into the red zone. Sanders then capitalized with an nice touchdown to Kaden Davis between two Panthers, and built off the momentum with two more scoring drives before he was removed late in the third quarter.

Sanders will have the opportunity to improve off this effort and perhaps raise his grade for himself next week. Cleveland coach Kevin Stefanski indicated that Sanders will see plenty of reps when the Browns takes on the Eagles for their second preseason game.

---

More NFL on Sports Illustrated

feed