Rookie Shedeur Sanders has had a rollercoaster debut with the Browns this season. After Steelers' head coach Mike Tomlin asked him to "Keep up!", Sanders has impressed another coach.

Sanders has caught the attention of Zac Taylor, the Bengals’ head coach. Despite his many mistakes, he has shown his potential to Taylor, who is training his team to face the Browns this weekend.

“For him to come into the league and as a rookie have success was really impressive,” he said. 

“We’ve got a tough task in front of us, and he’s done a really good job. He’s got confidence, and he’s obviously got a lot of reps under his belt now, and he’s made a lot of plays for these guys.”

The rookie's performances speak for themselves.  

Across seven games, he has seven touchdowns under him and thrown 10 interceptions for 1289 yards and completed 57.4 per cent passes.

Taylor, who is a former Nebraska quarterback, applauded Sanders for elevating Colorado despite being rivals.

“I think he elevated a program,” Taylor said. 

“He certainly helped bring a lot of eyes to Colorado, because they did some great things when he was there. I’m never going to call myself a Colorado fan, but I was watching their games as a Nebraska guy.”

Burrow Vs Sanders Showdown

Bengals’ Joe Burrow admitted that he has been keeping up with Sanders from his Colorado days and noted not just his game-making but ability to handle the media well. Ahead of the Week 18 showdown, the Bengals franchise quarterback opined that Sanders is capable, and his upbringing definitely helped. 

“I thought he made a lot of plays. I thought he could throw it,” Burrow said. 

“And then obviously given who his dad is, he knows how to handle the media, knows how to handle the spotlight. Certainly under the microscope more than any other fifth-round pick that’s ever been in the history of football.”

The Browns have poorly juggled their quarterbacks this season. After trading Joe Flacco within the division to the Bengals, they thrust rookies Dillon Gabriel, who was out due to a concussion in Week 11, and Sanders, who replaced Gabriel from that game. 

Apart from the mounting pressure to start for a failing team mid-season, it didn’t help that head coach Kevin Stefanski may have preferred Gabriel over Sanders. His reluctance to start with Sanders caused friction, but the 23-year-old kept his cool. Which didn’t go unnoticed.

“Every clip that I see, you know, he seems to be handling it well, says most of the right things in the media. He is who he is, he’s himself. That’s what you want out of a football player. So he seems to be handling it the right way,” Burrow stated.

While some may maintain that Sanders is not the Browns’ “franchise guy” yet, Burrow certainly respects him and views him as competition. 

Written by

Akanksha Biradar

Edited by

Joyita Das