The Cleveland Browns are turning to Shedeur Sanders for their Week 12 matchup on the road against the Las Vegas Raiders as Dillon Gabriel continues to work through the NFL’s concussion protocol.
Las Vegas’ defense will look to make Sanders’ life difficult in this contest. Moreover, the Silver and Black are currently on a four-game losing streak and need this win to break out of this slump.
Cleveland took Sanders with the 144th pick in the 2025 NFL Draft, and he made his NFL debut in the second half of Sunday’s 23-16 home loss to the Baltimore Ravens after Gabriel was checked for a concussion at halftime and later ruled out. Sanders struggled in the defeat, completing 4 of 16 passes for 47 yards and an interception.
Another player taken in Sanders’ draft class was Raiders standout Ashton Jeanty. While he won’t be facing the Browns quarterback directly, he hopes Las Vegas’ defense can ruin the player’s first NFL start.
“I got to know him pretty well,” Jeanty said about Sanders while speaking to the media on November 19. “[I am] excited for him. [It] should be a great opportunity for him, but I know my defense is going to come ready to attack him. He better be ready.”
Shedeur Sanders Is Excited to Face the Raiders
Browns head coach Kevin Stefanski confirmed after Sanders’ debut that those were the first snaps he had taken alongside the starting offense in any setting, and Sanders acknowledged the need to develop chemistry with the starting unit.
Gabriel has not been cleared to practice, so Sanders will get those valuable practice reps in preparation for his first start.
“I’m truly excited for that, knowing that I have a piece of [the] offense and a say so and how things fit my eye and place the players exactly where they need to be,” Sanders said (h/t Daniel Oyefusi of ESPN). “Seeing how they come in and out of routes, seeing the structure of the O-linemen, seeing their set, just having a feeling.
“I’m more of a feel type of person, so that’s how I learn, that’s how I do everything. I’m not just, ‘Imma just watch it, it’s just going to happen.’ No, I got to be out there, feel it. I got to move around. It’s like so many details that it takes for me to feel my best and play my best and I’m doing everything in my power and the team’s doing everything to help me get prepared.”
Will the Raiders Feed Ashton Jeanty the Football?
As for the Raiders, they’ll be looking to get Jeanty going in this game against the Browns, considering the limited touches he received in the Week 11 loss to the Dallas Cowboys. Raiders head coach Pete Carroll explained the reason for the limited ground game against Dallas.
“We did want to throw the ball early, and we wanted to go after these guys a little bit and see if we could, knowing that it was going to be a hard game to stop them, their top offense and all that,” Carroll said in the latest edition of “1 on 1” that was published on November 19.
“So that was part of it, and we hoped to work our way into the running game, but the score went the other way and put us behind enough where it kept us in the mode that we have to keep throwing the football down the field some.
“On that night, he doesn’t get the football as much. We did throw the ball to him well, and he did some nice stuff with that, but just not enough for the balance that you like. The balance doesn’t have to happen in the first quarter. The balance has to happen by the time you make it through the game, and sometimes the game dictates opportunities, and you’ve got to take advantage of them.”
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