Cleveland Browns quarterback Shedeur Sanders walked into his NFL rookie season with a plan to prove himself right. With everything he went through by the time the season ended, he had lost something deeper than reps or playtime. He felt alone.

Shedeur uploaded an 18-minute video on his YouTube channel, titled Shedeur Sanders: A Short Film. Around the 10-minute mark, he admits his first season was “a high-pressure situation,” and how only one person was in his corner: former Browns defensive back Tony Brown. Sanders gave Brown his flowers in the short film and called out the rest of the building at the same time.

“I know within myself what Imma do, and I know how dedicated I am to being great,” Sanders said. “So, everything else don’t matter because I know what it takes to get to that point, to get to that feeling, to have that confidence. But it was like for a second, and I lost that. And I can know that I look back and for a second I definitely lost it. It’s just being in the environment without anybody initially you could lean on. That’s how me and [Tony] got cool. It was like you going from a situation in a period to where you have that factor every day to everybody on their own.

“And it’s like it just felt weird, it felt off. Then he was kind of leading me and helping me figure myself out while everybody else is just watching. So, it’s like why a lot of people is watching. I ain’t going to say everybody, but a lot of people. So that’s why my respect for a lot is gone cause it’s like everybody supports you from afar. But when it’s daily, when it’s conversations, when it’s things that could actually help you, ain’t nobody there.”

Shedeur entered the 2025 draft with narratives that labeled him brash and arrogant. He fell to the fifth round, joined a room with three quarterbacks placed above him, never got first-team reps in the offseason, and only took the field when Cleveland had exhausted every other option. His 1,400 yards, seven touchdowns, and ten interceptions all came behind a broken offensive line with minimal practice time. And the one person who supported him from the start wasn’t even with him until the end.

Before Shedeur’s NFL debut last preseason against the Carolina Panthers, Tony Brown pushed a speaker on wheels alongside Sanders as he entered the field, supporting him. Brown is no longer in the building. He was released that August itself, but Shedeur has already declared he’s fine and doesn’t need any other support to show out in the 2026 season.

“I know you feel me when I display myself in my best form this year to the world,” Sanders added. “It’s like I don’t need all that external stuff, I don’t need new friends, I don’t need anything new. I’m fine with the basic chill system that I have now because I know this will take me where I need to go.”

Heading into the 2026 season, new head coach Todd Monken’s system has already helped him a lot, and Sanders has already impressed his coaches with his offseason drive. But the QB1 battle remains undecided, with veteran Deshaun Watson heading into camp to compete for the job.