It's safe to assume Cleveland Browns rookie quarterback Shedeur Sanders likely felt a slight bit of vindication as he walked off the field at Bank of America Stadium Friday night in Charlotte.
In the weeks leading up to Cleveland's preseason opener, most of what was said about Sanders was critical — he's likely to be cut or traded, he won't be one of the three QBs the Browns carry during the regular season, he's fourth on the depth chart and likely won't move up anytime soon.
And while some of the criticism he faced was self-inflicted—multiple reports indicated he had terrible pre-draft interviews and gave off hints of narcissism and arrogance—some of it was simply the result of an echo chamber of negativity surrounding the former Colorado signal-caller.
But following his performance in Friday's 30-10 win over the Carolin Panthers, in which he completed 14 of 23 passes for 138 yards, two touchdowns, and zero interceptions, one would imagine the large cloud of negativity hanging over Sanders' head will start to dissipate — at least a little bit.
Among Sanders' harshest critics throughout the offseason has been ESPN Cleveland's Tony Grossi — and Sanders knows it.
In a video that started circulating on social media after the game taken by Deion Sanders Jr., Sanders actually confronted Grossi about his constant criticism.
"Tony, I be hoping you got something positive to say about me," Sanders said. "You only say negative stuff about me, and I'm like, 'I ain't do nothing to you.' I ain't seen nothing positive that you ever said [about me]."
While Grossi's reply is inaudible, whatever he said made Sanders laugh before jokingly shouting "Come on Tony, what did I do? What did I do to you, Tony?" as he walked away.
Among the things Grossi has harped on Sanders about, arguably the biggest was his dad, Deion Sanders, creating "mass hysteria" about Sanders heading into the 2025 draft, and the media circus that's followed since his drafting.
"The media are doing Shedeur a disservice by inflating where he's at right now," Grossi said back in June. "He's a developmental quarterback, just like Dillon Gabriel—he's not a franchise quarterback. ... Overinflating expectations is just not good. He's not close to being QB1."
To his credit, Grossi did have something nice to say about Sanders' preseason debut.
"My bottom line on Shedeur Sanders' impressive debut: He put the pressure on QB2 Kenny Pickett and QB3 Dillon Gabriel to get healthy and perform next week," Grossi wrote on X.
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