For a mid-round rookie quarterback, the first NFL snaps often come under the worst possible circumstances. Shedeur Sanders faced this reality head-on Sunday at FirstEnergy Stadium. Sanders came in when Dillon Gabriel exited with a concussion, but he really struggled. Many of the Shedeur haters out there were quick to criticize the former Colorado standout, but former NFL quarterback Luke McCown, who was in a similar situation to Sanders, was quick to back him up.

“The only time mid-round pick rookies and backups get meaningful reps is in training camp, and they are never with the ones unless you are competing or starting that next preseason game,” said McCown on X. “Regular season practices have 10-12 plays per period…but for the most part, that’s 30-40 live full-speed reps of the actual game plan practiced on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday in the NFL.. these all go to the starting QB.”

“Yes, it stinks that that’s the situation SS [Shedeur Sanders] came into. I’ve been there, LITERALLY, with the Browns, as a rookie, as a mid-round pick. So have many other rookies. You play, you learn and grow and get better, or you don’t.”

The truth is, Sanders, like many other backup quarterbacks in the NFL, just wasn’t ready to play on Sunday. He hadn’t gotten the reps he needed in practice, so he was totally unprepared to step in when Gabriel went down, which was a large reason he struggled so much.

Shedeur Sanders’ struggles against the Ravens

Sanders entered the game in the second half with a 16-10 lead over the Baltimore Ravens. He played the entire second half, but completed just four of his 16 passing attempts (25 percent) for 47 yards and no touchdowns while throwing one interception and getting sacked twice for 27 yards.

Of Sanders’ four completions, three of them came within five yards of the line of scrimmage. He did have one pass that traveled 21 air yards, but he went 1-for-5 with an interception on passes that traveled more than 10 yards through the air.

Sanders led six drives on Sunday, and his team totaled 44 yards on those drives. They punted four times, turned it over on downs once, and turned it over on an interception in the other. And when you look at some of the success Gabriel and Co. had in the first half, scoring 16 points and logging nearly 150 yards of offense, there’s no other way to put it other than Sanders really struggled.

But was it his fault? Or can you blame the NFL for its practice structure, which doesn’t allow backups to get many reps?

Why Sanders was under-prepared

McCown further broke down how NFL teams practice and why Sanders was at a disadvantage entering his first NFL regular-season action.

“These team periods alternate between O (offense) and D (defense) with backups and PS (practice squad) players, and even some guys that will play significant roles on Sunday, serving as scout team “look” squads for those periods. This is where we backups get our reps. You have to try and translate what the scout team play is into your offense and play it accordingly. Honestly, this is a lot of times more beneficial to you as a QB because you’re getting reps against a full defense of starters at full speed, the minus being that it’s not necessarily your offensive plays you’re running.”

“[The expectation is] you must come in and perform at the same level as the guy you replaced for your teammates, coaches and your own career security. You come in and struggle, and you’re evaluated on that performance, right or wrong, the league makes its judgments about you, that’s why it’s so hard for backups to have long careers that weren’t at one point full-time starters.”

Unfair expectations are placed on backup quarterbacks. They don’t get nearly the same amount of practice time as the starters, and when they do practice, they’re not running their own plays.

When the starter gets hurt and they have to come in, they are judged the same as the starters. It’s completely unreasonable, and it’s a large reason journeymen backups are becoming less common.

How rookies in similar situations performed

Let’s take a look at some other rookie quarterbacks in recent history who entered mid-game for their first real NFL action and see how they played.

There haven’t been a whole lot of rookie quarterbacks in recent memory who have been in the same situation as Sanders, but I think it’s fair to say many of them struggled in their debuts. Maybe not as much as Sanders did, but when you consider his offensive line and playmakers, it’s easy to see why Sanders had such a hard time in his NFL debut.

If Gabriel is ruled out next week with a concussion, Sanders will be the starter this week against the Raiders. He should have a full week of practice, so only then can we truly judge his performance.

Things didn’t look great for Sanders in his first game, but there’s still hope that he can turn things around like some of the other rookies in his same position have.