Shedeur Sanders Wins First NFL Start

BEREA, OHIO - JUNE 11: Shedeur Sanders #12 of the Cleveland Browns walks off the field after Cleveland Browns mandatory minicamp at CrossCountry Mortgage Campus on June 11, 2025 in Berea, Ohio. (Photo by Nick Cammett/Getty Images)

It was a day of making history — the good kind, which hasn’t happened much in this otherwise ugly season — for the Browns on Sunday evening.

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They won, which isn’t history but rather a rarity for the now 3-8 Browns, as they equaled last season’s number of victories with six games with a 24-10 victory over host Las Vegas. The Raiders aren’t anything to write home about, either, standing 2-9. But nobody in Cleveland is going to feel sorry for them.

Instead, the history — two-pronged that it is — came with the fact Shedeur Sanders became the first Browns rookie quarterback in 30 years (Eric Zeier in 1995) to win his first start), and the 10 sacks the Browns had of Geno Smith were, among other things, the most the Raiders have ever given up in a game. Somewhere, Al Davis is turning over in his grave. As for the former record, it occurred against the Cincinnati Bengals 29-26 in overtime on Oct. 29 at Riverfront Stadium. This was the last hurrah for the original Browns franchise before the news broke five days later that Art Motel was going to move the club to Baltimore following the season. The current franchise isn’t going anywhere — except to Brook Park, near Hopkins Airport, in 2029 to play in a brand-new indoor stadium.

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Zeier never panned out. But how did Sanders play? He said before the game in a TV interview with a sideline reporter that he was the guy the quarterback-starved Browns been looking for. Who knows, he just might be. We’ll have to wait and see.

Sanders is a polarizing guy. It’s hard for people to answer without subjectivity, for against. So, then, to get the unbiased answer to that question we will refer to the radio announcers for the Raiders, who don’t have a dog in the fight, so to speak.They agreed that Sanders wasn’t great, but he was good — more good than bad. And, they said in summary, he put up 24 points, which isn’t bad at all for a team that can’t score points.

I’ll take that. And I’ll also take Sanders starting on Sunday when the San Francisco 49ers visit Cleveland. If ground Browns coach Kevin Stefanski doesn’t start Sanders, regardless, if Dillon Gabriel is healthy or not, it will be a fireable offense in my estimation.

Steve King

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