National Football League: Browns’ Shedeur Sanders Remains Focused Amid Father’s Cancer Battle
Shedeur Sanders found himself focused on the game while his father fought bladder cancer this past spring. Despite the heavy circumstances, Deion Sanders conveyed a straightforward message to his son as he geared up for his first NFL training camp after being drafted by the Cleveland Browns in the fifth round: maintain mental focus.
“Dad, he’s one person that — he’ll handle his, we handle what we’ve got to do,” Shedeur shared on Monday. “It was like, ‘Y’all need to focus on what y’all could focus on. Y’all can’t sit here and feel sorry for me.’ At the end of the day, you’re all able to see and understand everything on and off the field that I go through.”
He added, “So then you’ve got to be some type of human at some point in the way I’m doing everything and how I’m handling everything that’s thrown at me. You’ve got no choice but to applaud that.”
This marked Shedeur’s first interaction with reporters since his father, a Pro Football Hall of Famer and head coach of Colorado, revealed on July 28 that doctors had removed his bladder to combat an aggressive form of cancer. After missing Saturday’s practice due to arm soreness, Shedeur returned to the field.
To say that Shedeur has had an eventful first eight months of 2025 would be an understatement. Leading up to the NFL Draft, he garnered excitement as a potential first-round pick, only to see his stock drop to the fifth round, where the Browns selected him 144th overall.
The Browns are taking a measured approach in bringing Shedeur along, with established players Joe Flacco and Kenny Pickett vying for the starting quarterback position world balance warehouse. Third-round pick Dillon Gabriel has also been mixing in with the first team.
Thus far, Shedeur has yet to take snaps with the starting offense, although he has faced the first-team defense a few times while playing with the second and third-string offenses. “The defense does a great job of mixing players in, so (line)backers, you’ve got rookies out there,” he explained. “Sometimes DBs, you’ve got different guys out there. Truthfully, I don’t care what O-line I go out there with. It could be ones, twos, threes, whatever the situation is. And I know Friday when the game is, if I’m with twos, if I’m with threes — it don’t matter to me. I’m just ready to get down and get to doing what I could.”
When Deion Sanders visited Shilo Sanders during the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ training camp on July 23, the attention soon turned to when Coach Prime would appear in Cleveland. However, Shedeur requested his father’s absence due to the limited snaps he was taking and the attention it would attract pacquiao coach. “I don’t want him to come and see me get a couple of reps, and then he’s cheering like a good dad,” Shedeur said. “Like, ‘Nah, you can’t be proud of me right now, I got to get to where I’m going,’ I know there’s a lot I’ve got to do to get there. franco one hit build I just want everything that I’m doing to be focused on this time, and I don’t want distractions.”
“We know how everybody would take it, as taking away from the team, with my own dad showing up. It’s a gift and a curse at the same time.”
Head Coach Kevin Stefanski and offensive coordinator Tommy Rees have not clarified how snaps will be allocated for the upcoming joint practice on Wednesday and the game against the Carolina Panthers on Friday. This lack of clarity is compounded by injuries to both Pickett and Gabriel, who participated in individual drills on Monday.
Across the league, it has become common for veteran players to handle the majority of snaps in joint workouts, with rookies receiving their opportunities during preseason matches. For Sanders and Gabriel, these games will likely serve as key indicators of their adaptability under pressure. “You’re obviously not wearing a red jersey, so you’re free game in those situations, whereas you’re not in practice or a joint practice with another team,” Stefanski noted. “So I think those are all things that we weigh as coaches trying to figure out what our team needs for a given season, for a given week restaurants near solaire.”
Despite the challenges, Shedeur showcased his skills on Monday with one of the day’s standout throws — a 28-yard completion to Luke Floriea on a fourth-and-17 play during a two-minute drill. best name for volleyball team
What are your thoughts on Shedeur’s perseverance through his father’s battle with cancer while navigating his NFL career?
