The Cleveland Browns have announced that rookie fifth-round pick Shadeur Sanders will be their starting quarterback on Sunday when they face the Las Vegas Raiders. Both teams enter the contest at 2-8.
Sanders was pressed into duty when starter Dillon Gabriel was sent to concussion protocol during the Browns' 23-16 loss to the Baltimore Ravens on Sunday. Sanders struggled, going just four of six passing, for 47 yards and an interception.
Upon receiving the news that Shadeur was named as this week's first-stringer, his father, NFL Hall of Famer and current Colorado head coach Deion Sanders, offered his take on his son's situation this season.
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"I think a lesser man would have crumbled," Deion said at his weekly news conference at the University of Colorado. “I thought the Ravens would have played better early on to provoke him getting in. I didn't want him to get in by the injury, because I'm fond of Dillon, and I want him to be successful as well. But I didn’t want that to happen.”
Deion Sanders discusses Shadeur's Strange Situation
The Buffaloes' coach then alluded to forces that may have been working against his son, but he didn't dive any deeper into the topic.
"I know what's been transpiring behind the curtains, and I'm just proud of him, because he's not just saying the right things, he's doing and living the right things. That's just who he is.”
“Thank God that God prepared him for everything he's dealing with,” Deion concluded. “...He's been built for this, and who else is built for the adversity like he is? Like, going into the NFL? I don't think it's too many quarterbacks that have been built like that for the adverse situations and not having the best of things to happen around him.