Cleveland Browns quarterback Shedeur Sanders has faced a ton of questions about his on-field skills. But even his off-field interactions can’t give him a break either.

Cleveland ESPN hosts Evan Cohen and Chris Canty were reacting to Sanders’ appearance on This Is Football when the second-year QB was asked what difference he sees between current head coach Todd Monken and former HC Kevin Stefanski. Sanders replied with a “thankful” mindset instead of comparing the two.

“It’s amazing how many sound bites we have from Shedeur where you’d be like, what’s the reason to dislike him? I don’t get it. He doesn’t say anything wrong. I don’t get it. Unless I’m totally missing something,” Cohen said on Unsportsmanlike. “That’s a great answer. It’s brilliant. If you, if you don’t like Shedeur, it’s because you’ve made it up in your head; you don’t like Shedeur.”

Sanders has always been under scrutiny for his attitude and behavior. Since his scouting days last year, he was labelled “arrogant” and “brash.” Some of that criticism came with the big name attached to him, his father, Pro Football Hall of Famer Deion Sanders.

And as Cohen sided with Sanders’ responses, Canty went on to question, “How would you know [Shedeur] is not a good enough quarterback?”

“If you want to just go by what we saw last year, Shedeur Sanders was the best quarterback for the Cleveland Browns. He went three and four. The other two quarterbacks that had double the amount of starts, you’re talking about those guys combined having two wins. So, just based on what the Cleveland Browns had around them offensively, Shedeur Sanders did the best with it,” Canty said on the same show.

Cleveland finished the 2025 season with a 5-12 record, and three of those wins came from Sanders under center. Quarterbacks Dillon Gabriel and Joe Flacco had one win each, in six and four starts respectively.

To be fair, Sanders got seven starts, but he also had to work with the same offensive line to win those three games. That wasn’t easy on a Browns team that ranked 31st in points scored and 30th in total yards last year.

Still, Sanders obviously has the upper hand against the QBs competing for the starting role in Cleveland. But looking at QB rating, Sanders had a QBR of 18.9, Gabriel had a 31.4 rating last season, while Deshaun Watson had a 21 QBR in seven starts in 2024.

On one hand, Sanders gave Cleveland its best chance to win in terms of pure results. On the other, his efficiency metrics lag behind Gabriel’s and Watson’s. For Sanders, the narrative around his name and attitude may fade only if his play clearly separates him from the rest of the room.