Cleveland Browns quarterback Shedeur Sanders already made his NFL debut in Week 11 against the Baltimore Ravens, but he now gets to make his first start in Week 12 against the Las Vegas Raiders. While both teams are 2-8 and among the worst teams in the league, Sanders getting his first start will draw a lot of attention to the game.
The Raiders were heavily linked to Sanders in the pre-draft process, especially when Antonio Pierce was still the head coach. There were even videos of Deion Sanders telling Pierce to draft his sons.
The team ended up firing Pierce and replacing him with Pete Carroll. They traded for Geno Smith and decided against drafting a quarterback until they took Cam Miller in the sixth round. According to Pierce, that wouldn’t have been the case if he hadn’t lost his job.
He revealed that the Raiders were high on Sanders while he was there, and they would’ve drafted him at some point.
“When I was with the Raiders, he was one of our top choices,” Pierce said on CBS . “If I would’ve stayed there, there’s no way he gets to the fifth round.”
Would Raiders Have Been Better Off With Sanders?
Taking Sanders in the first two rounds clearly would’ve been a mistake by the Raiders. He wasn’t valued highly around the NFL . However, once he dropped to the fourth round (the Raiders didn’t have a fifth-round pick in 2025), the risk would’ve been minimal.
Yes, he brings a lot of unnecessary attention to a team, but the Raiders are 2-8 without him. At least with him on the roster, the team could have an interesting quarterback prospect developing. Miller has been on the practice squad all season, so it’s hard to imagine he has much of an NFL future as a starter.
Fourth-round pick Tonka Hemingway has only been active for four games this season, and the Raiders don’t seem interested in playing him much. That pick could’ve been used to draft Sanders, who at least has a slight chance of being the quarterback of the future. The Raiders have their reasons for not being more aggressive in adding a quarterback, but with Geno Smith playing so poorly, it’s hard to justify any of those reasons.
Raiders Coach Praises Sanders
The Raiders’ defense is coming off a rough showing against the Dallas Cowboys , so they’ll be eager to play against a struggling offense with a rookie quarterback making his first start. There’s no doubt the Raiders have a big advantage against the Browns’ offense.
However, they can’t underestimate Sanders just because he had a rough game against the Ravens. Defensive coordinator Patrick Graham knows that the quarterback can make big plays.
“When you watch the tape that stands out, I mean, he can make the throws,” Graham told reporters on Thursday . “I mean, there’s some throws, even last week, some throws in the preseason that were pretty good. The one down the red area where or two, I think, in the red area, he found him on broken plays or loose plays. He does a good job. He can throw the football, can definitely do that.”
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