The Cleveland Browns handed Shedeur Sanders his second straight start. In a heavy loss to the San Francisco 49ers, the 26-8 scoreline painted a bad picture. While Sanders couldn’t get his team a win, he showed promise. That’s exactly why NFL legend James Jones gave a clean, no-nonsense grade on the performance.

“I’ll give him a B,” Jones said, according to Speakeasy on X. “The main reason is: Number one, the game doesn’t look too big for him. It already looks like it slowed down for Shedeur. What I mean by that is he’s picking up all the protections. It’s not like people are just running free after he got the starting job. He just looks like he’s cool, calm, and collected in the pocket.”

Jones wasn’t hyping the stats or the scoreboard. He was pointing out Shedeur’s supposed poise even during the loss, where the latter went 16-of-25 for 149 yards, with one touchdown, and no turnovers. In the process, the quarterback also managed something that Joe Flacco did only twice, and Dillon Gabriel couldn’t pull off this season at all.

The Colorado product connected on his fourth 30-plus-yard completion, which quietly says a lot. Right now, Shedeur is giving the Browns every reason to keep rolling with him. But Week 13 wasn’t all smooth sailing. There were still a few wrinkles Sanders couldn’t escape. For starters, the 49ers’ defense built pressure around the rookie and sacked him three times.

The first sack came on 3rd-and-15 at the Niners’ 36 in the second quarter, when Clelin Ferrell sliced straight through the interior and sacked Shedeur for a 13-yard loss. Then, early in the fourth quarter, with 7:30 left, Keion White sacked Shedeur for another 10-yard loss.

But the final minutes were the toughest. Ferrell showed up again, this time with about two minutes left, and sacked Shedeur for an 11-yard loss, sealing the quarterback’s third sack of the game.

Besides the pocket pressure, Shedeur had a real shot at a highlight-reel touchdown early on, too. During the Browns’ first possession, he uncorked a deep ball to Jerry Jeudy that could’ve been a 66-yard score. But it sailed just beyond the wide receiver’s reach. It was a clean, confident deep shot that simply carried too far. James Jones pointed to that exact miss later, saying that was why he graded Shedeur a “B”.

In his eyes, a starting quarterback has to connect on throws like that when the opportunity is wide open. After the game, Shedeur didn’t dance around the play. He owned it immediately.

“I would say overall it’s about spending time. You’re gauging the speed and time and distance and travel and everything, and I just calculated off,” Sanders stated. “That’s all it was. It was just a missed shot. So then when I miss that shot, I got to stay on myself, keep shooting.”

But the moment didn’t end with the throw or the presser. The broadcast later caught Shedeur and Jeudy in a heated exchange on the sidelines. The two were reviewing the play on a tablet when Jeudy suddenly grew animated, clapping his hands and repeating, “That’s wrong, that’s wrong,” loud enough for nearby teammates to hear. Within seconds, Browns center Ethan Pocic stepped in and broke up the argument. Jeudy walked away frustrated, and Shedeur shook his head.

Thankfully, Sanders will have another chance to right the wrongs. But it won’t just depend on him. As per what Jones pointed out, head coach Kevin Stefanski will also have some work cut out for him.

James Jones takes a jab at the Browns’ play-calling for Shedeur Sanders

Jones is of the firm belief that Kevin Stefanski is running two different playbooks: One for Shedeur Sanders and a much broader, more flexible one for Dillon Gabriel. Yes, the Browns handed the Colorado alum the reins again. But Stefanski still seemed reluctant to fully cut him loose. Instead of opening things up, he leaned on a conservative script and a heavier run game.

“They have the playbook more open for Dillon Gabriel,” the NFL legend said. “See what Shedeur has. He is out there right now with a limited playbook. So when he has an opportunity to make a play, he isn’t trying to throw it away. He is trying to scramble forever because he is trying to make something happen. Kevin Stefanski and those guys have to open the playbook up. You got a really good young running back back there. Run the football, too. But open this playbook up and let Shedeur throw the football.”

That said, the whole debate around how much freedom Shedeur actually has in this offense will be back next week at home against the Tennessee Titans. So the microscope only gets tighter from here.

The expectations will be real, and so will the pressure to deliver his second win.

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