Mandatory Credit: Ken Blaze-Imagn Images

‘I Do Not Think Kevin Stefansky Wants Shedeur Sanders to Succeed in Cleveland’ – Former NFL Quarterback’s Blunt Take On Browns’ Head Coach

Mandatory Credit: Ken Blaze-Imagn Images

This past Sunday, the NFL world got to witness the very first glimpse of Shedeur Sanders as a professional football player. Sanders, who started the offseason as the potential number two overall draft pick behind Cam Ward, fell all the way to the fifth round before the Cleveland Browns selected him.

Ever since then, Sanders has been battling an uphill battle with fans and experts of the game divided in their opinions and how they view him as a professional player. On Sunday, Sanders made his debut after coming on in the second half in the Browns game against the Ravens as starting quarterback Dillon Gariel went out with a concussion.

Needless to say, neither Sanders nor his fans could have thought his debut performance could have been any worse. Finishing the game with just 4 completions from 16 attempts for 47 yards and an interception, the Browns confirmed why they are not high on their backup signal caller.

However, there is more to the story than what we saw, at least that is what former NFL quarterback Cam Newton believes.

After the game, Wyatt Teller highlighted the impact of not having any experience practicing with Shedeur Sanders.

"I think I have heard his cadence like two or three times. I think going out of halftime, we all got on the line, and he said his cadence and we kind of got through… pic.twitter.com/lsYbbs1sKs
— The Dawgs – A Cleveland Browns Podcast (@thedawgspodcast) November 17, 2025

Cam Newton Lashes Out at Kevin Stefanski for Sanders’ Failure

Former NFL quarterback Cam Newton spoke at length over the Shedeur Sanders situation in Cleveland during his appearance on ESPN’s ‘First Take’. Newton put forth his opinion wherein he feels that the Browns’ head coach, Kevin Stefanski, does not want Sanders to succeed with the organization.

Newton conceded that the Browns do not have enough pieces to build a competitive roster, given that most of the salary cap is being wasted on Deshaun Watson, who is not even playing. Due to this dire situation, irrespective of who is playing under center, that signal caller needs plenty of help to succeed.

However, the former Panthers’ QB put forth the point that the main reason he feels such way about Stefanski is due to the lack of first-team reps he is giving Sanders. During Sanders’ media session after his debut, he mentioned that it was the first time he had thrown a pass to Jerry Jeudy, which again highlighted the fact that Sanders is not being first team reps at practice.

Looking back at his own career, Newton stressed how important it was for the backup quarterback to take first-team reps in each practice session, knowing very well that injuries can happen at any moment in the NFL.

"I do not think Kevin Stefanski wants Shedeur Sanders to succeed in Cleveland." 👀

Cam Newton on the Browns head coach after Shedeur Sanders took his first first-team reps against the Ravens. pic.twitter.com/tim89FUwa3
— First Take (@FirstTake) November 17, 2025

Browns Fans Calling for Stefanski to Be Fired

Over the course of the entire offseason, as well as the 11 weeks of regular-season football, several Browns fans, as well as those in the media, feel that Stefanski is deliberately sidelining Sanders and setting him up for failure.

Whether these claims have any merit is tough to say, especially for the common man perceiving things from the outside. However, there is no denying the fact that Sanders not getting any first-team reps at practice is surely not the best way to proceed, and the Browns just got a taste of that is like this Sunday against the Ravens.

Mandatory Credit: Ken Blaze-Imagn Images

Cam Newton

Cleveland Browns

NFL

Shedeur Sanders

Devavrat Kulkarni

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I am a content writer for the NFL team, and joined The Playoffs after working with Sportskeeda and NFL Analysis as an NFL writer. After starting my professional career as a French-to-English translator, working as a content writer is a new adventure for me. I started out in the sports media field for two main reasons: my love for sports in general, especially the NFL, NBA, and Tennis, as well as my passion for writing. The best part of this job is that I get to write a variety of pieces with the freedom to explore content from various angles. It also enables me to stay up to date with the sporting world, which otherwise can be difficult to do in the day-to-day grind. In a world full of chaos, sports unite and entertain like nothing else!