It hasn’t been an easy start to Shedeur Sanders’ NFL career. Sanders hasn’t received many reps since the Cleveland Browns selected him in the 2025 draft. However, his inability to get into the games hasn’t been the biggest obstacle since the 23-year-old has dealt with heaps of character shaming and critiques on his attitude. Carmelo Anthony knows far too well what that feels like and has come to the defense of the young quarterback.
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To understand what Sanders has been going through, it’s important to know his history. Shedeur is the son of NFL legend Deion Sanders. Throughout his collegiate career, he was always by his father’s side, whether that was at Jackson State or Colorado. Sanders always carried himself with a certain amount of irrational confidence, which didn’t sit well with many fans and analysts.
Once NFL teams were undergoing their draft process, more reports would come out painting Sanders in a negative light. Colin Cohwerd spoke on one back in April.
“So a lot of times when you go to these combine meetings, teams give you things to challenge you,” Cowherd said on The Colin Cowherd Show. “Teams will have players’ worst plays ready for them, and they’ll show them their worst plays and say, ‘Hey, why don’t you explain them?'”
“And Shedeur apparently didn’t take to it well,” Cowherd added. “And at one point, one of the few teams that actually was interested in him said, ‘Well, what to make of this really bad play?’ And Shedeur said, ‘You know, maybe I’m not the guy for you.’ That’s not the answer, since there were only 3 or 4 teams in the first round that were gonna consider it.”
As a result, Sanders unexpectedly fell all the way to the fifth round. He became a third-string quarterback for the Browns. Sanders didn’t once bash his team or the players ahead of him, yet he still received a slew of negative comments.
On top of all that, his NFL debut hasn’t exactly been as good as he would have liked. Naturally, the negativity began to make way once again. Anthony has had enough and stood up for Sanders amidst this difficult rookie season.
“I just don’t like the character shaming,” Anthony said on 7 PM in Brooklyn. “I don’t like the character shaming because we know who these guys are. We know they’re good kids. We know they come from good backgrounds.”
It’s not Shedeur’s fault that his father gave him the resources to have a successful jumpstart on his dreams of playing football. Anthony has seen firsthand with his son, Kiyan, the treatment he receives simply because his father was an NBA legend.
Shedeur is still young with his entire future ahead of him. He has the skills to be a great quarterback and just requires the right opportunity. Now that he is the Browns starter following Dillon Gabriel’s injury, hopefully, this is what he needed to put an end to the doubters.
