Days before training camp begins, Shedeur Sanders hit Colorado's mountains with friends, and during one hike, the Cleveland Browns quarterback reflected on his performance against the Pittsburgh Steelers last year.

“We were playing the Steelers. Their linebackers were hitting that game. I’m on the pine the whole year,” he explained on his YouTube handle, as posted on July 1. “You get out there, you’re like, ‘This is something. I could do something like this.’”

After setbacks in previous games, Sanders bounced back in style against the Steelers, leading his team to a 13-6 victory. The defense tried to slow him down, but he stayed a step ahead, posting a career-high 73.9% completion rate.

“To me, that’s an accomplishment. This dude tried to knock my head off … That’s the whole thing I’m celebrating. I know it’s fourth down, but I just evaded this tackle. I just got away,” said Sanders on the YouTube video.

The Steelers' defense caught up. Steelers Linebacker Alex Highsmith’s pressure led to an interception by Jack Sawyer as he took down Sanders for his second sack of the game. Meanwhile, Sanders was also criticized for holding the ball far too long in the game and settling for short checkdowns on critical downs.

Despite the shortfall, Sanders believes this was the game that truly turned him into a professional last year. Speaking of his stats, he completed 17 of 23 passes for 186 yards, with one touchdown and two interceptions.

Despite the Steelers' success, Sanders faces an uphill climb this season. His quarterback battle with Deshaun Watson shows no clear winner, and now an analyst has raised red flags about the young quarterback.

NFL analyst highlights the one flaw Shedeur Sanders must fix

Last year, Sanders finished with a 56.6% completion rate, 1,400 passing yards, seven touchdowns, and 10 interceptions while being sacked 23 times. According to PFF, he ranked 42nd out of 44 qualified quarterbacks last season.

It was a roller-coaster campaign for him. Nick Baumgardner of The Athletic believes the reason behind Sanders' struggle is simple: he's too predictable.

“The biggest flaw in Sanders’ game remains the same: His instinct isn’t to play on time with the offense, it’s to play on ‘Shedeur Sanders time,” wrote Baumgardner.

While his gameplay hasn't changed, flaws like sloppy footwork and holding onto the ball for too long continue to hurt him, yet he seems unaware of them.

“Sanders’ footwork remains inconsistent, but processing from the pocket was his biggest problem as a rookie starter," Baumgardner added. "He tended to be either too indecisive or in search of the fastest possible outlet, regardless of the coverage."

The problems were apparent in his rookie year when he became the starting quarterback for the last seven games. He absorbed 23 sacks during that span, which projects to around 56 over a 17-game season.

That said, what are your thoughts on Shedeur Sanders? Let us know in the comments.

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Written by

Suryakant Das

Edited by

Soheli Tarafdar