Browns' Shedeur Sanders makes Cleveland history as he begins to write a story all his own

Billy Heyen

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Browns' Shedeur Sanders makes Cleveland history as he begins to write a story all his own image

Shedeur Sanders will go through the remainder of his football career sharing the last name of his father, the Hall of Famer Deion Sanders.

There's nothing the Cleveland Browns' rookie quarterback can do about that. It will always lead to increased scrutiny and attention.

There's also nothing Sanders can do at this point about the fact that NFL teams passed on him for 143 picks before the Browns drafted him in April in the fifth round at No. 144 overall. That's in the past.

All Sanders can do now is prove that he belongs and write a story all his own.

He took the first step toward that on Sunday in Las Vegas with Deion in attendance in a suite rocking a big cowboy hat.

Sanders threw his first NFL touchdown, a 66-yarder. He completed a sweet 52-yarder on a rollout throw on his run, too.

And most importantly, he won. He's the first Browns QB to win his first NFL start while wearing a Cleveland uniform since 1995 -- 17 in a row had lost in that scenario before Sanders won on Sunday.

Wins cure all. They prove doubters wrong. They turn late-round picks into long-term starters.

That's not to say Sanders is a long-term starter now. He may not even start next week. Dillon Gabriel missed Sunday's game with a concussion, which is why Sanders started at all.

But for Shedeur, it's really about that cliche that you just have to control the controllables. He was given a start on Sunday, and he controlled it from start to finish.

The Browns designed a strong gameplan. It utilized Wildcat runs for the talented rookie RB Dylan Sampson. It included a smart screen pass to Dylan Sampson that turned into a 66-yard catch-and-run to the house.

Sanders did what he was asked to do, and he did it well.

His nightmare relief appearance of a week ago felt like a different player.

This was Sanders proving that he belonged. Maybe it won't always look like this.

But on this day, Sanders took out a pen and wrote the first true chapter to his NFL story. There's no telling how many more he has to come, but this was a solid start.

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Contributing Writer