Last season, Shedeur Sanders failed to silence his critics, throwing for 1,400 yards while taking 23 sacks across seven starts as his team finished 5-11. Yet, a former GM insists the blame wasn't entirely on him, urging Todd Monken to keep the faith.

Speaking on The Pat McAfee Show, former New York Jets general manager Mike Tannenbaum said the Browns should give Shedeur Sanders the starting job, believing he represents the franchise's strongest long-term option.

"It's a no-brainer; you've got to go with Shedeur Sanders," Tannenbaum said. "Shedeur physically has all the measurables you want; [he] has a good arm.”

At The Pat McAfee Show, Mike Tannenbaum admitted that Shedeur Sanders endured a disastrous season, finishing with a 44.1 overall PFF grade and ranking 42nd among 43 qualified quarterbacks. However, he insisted the blame should not fall solely on the young quarterback.

“Look, last year was a disaster. That wasn't his fault. I'm intrigued; I thought there was enough good tape you saw in Colorado that he can make all the throws. He can process well. We've got to see what we have in him, because if we can win, whatever it is, eight to 12 games with him, that could change our plan going forward,” said Tannenbaum.

Last season's struggles can be attributed to Sanders' own lack of production, his 56.6% completion rate, and the team's poor offensive coordination.

According to Athlon Sports, Cleveland ranked 31st in points per game (16.4) and 31st in passing yards per game (185.4) in 2025.

The offense's struggles were not entirely his fault, and with the team adding receivers KC Concepcion and Denzel Boston, Tannenbaum believes they should give him another chance to prove his worth.

While Tannenbaum expressed his support for Sanders, the young quarterback received another lifeline as well.

Shedeur Sanders gets support from Pat McAfee

There's no hiding Pat McAfee's QB1 choice, as the talk show host threw his support behind Shedeur Sanders. During a recent episode with Mike Tannenbaum, McAfee revealed that his entire show is “Pro-Shedeur.”

“I think we have been, even when the stats didn't look like it. As soon as he got on the field for the Browns, they found a spark and were winning games. I don't want the Browns to do classic Browns stuff. Shedeur was winning for you guys,” said McAfee.

Well, Sanders has been outperforming Deshaun Watson in training camp. While Watson has thrown interceptions, Sanders has yet to throw one, and his completion rate has been impressive.

McAfee doubled down on it, saying that the young QB is looking in shape and healthy.

"I like Shedeur's chances," McAfee said. "We saw Shedeur; he looked fit. He's saying he's from Cleveland; I think he wants the job. I'm pumped to see if the Cleveland Browns can find somebody."

The QB race is still ongoing, and we'll soon find out who the Cleveland Browns' starting quarterback will be. With that said, who do you think will clinch the job: Sanders or Watson?

Written by

Suryakant Das

Edited by

Suyashdeep Sason