Shedeur Sanders will start at quarterback for the Cleveland Browns this weekend, and it’s unclear if that will make the online discourse around him better or worse.
Just ask Ross Tucker, who explained just how out of whack the conversation surrounding the rookie quarterback has been for a long time.
The NFL media member was a recent guest on The Dan Patrick Show, and he shared his insights into what he expects to see from the quarterback when he leads Cleveland against the Las Vegas Raiders. Naturally, the conversation veered towards the one that’s been happening since before Sanders was even drafted and has somehow gotten crazier since. And according to Tucker, this has been happening long before he was even drafted.
“I don’t know if it’s real people, or it’s bots, or what – but if you say anything positive about Shedeur, there’s a weird group of people, or bots, or whatever – they jump down your throat right away.”
– @RossTuckerNFL on Shedeur Sanders pic.twitter.com/mtQBTeEzai
— Dan Patrick Show (@dpshow) November 20, 2025
“I’ve never experienced anything like this calling games,” said Tucker. “But last year, I did Colorado-Colorado State on TV for CBS. And Dan, I don’t know if it’s real people or it’s bots or what. But if you say anything positive about Shedeur, there’s a weird group of people or bots or whatever, they jump down your throat right away. ‘That was an easy pass. The receiver made the play. He’s not good.’ And then if you say anything negative about Shedeur, there’s a whole other group of people or bot army or whatever. Nobody’s just relaxed with him. It’s the strangest thing.
“I guess I can see how someone has supporters that are that strong. The weird part of it to me is this group of detractors that seem so invested in him not performing well. I have never experienced it like that any other game. After the game, I looked at my social media mentions, and it’s like people were big mad no matter what I said.”
Indeed, the narratives and conversations around Sanders, a rookie who spent most of the season third on the depth chart, have been bonkers. NFL media members haven’t helped, as many of them have seemingly taken sides as well. Meanwhile, everything he says or does is put under a microscope, in a way usually reserved for megastars. Even the people around him aren’t safe from hot takes about their intentions.
Depending on how Sanders plays on Sunday, expect this bizarre cycle to go into overdrive by Monday.