QB Shedeur Sanders (4.21.26)
How was your first practice outside here with Todd Monken?
“Practice was great today. It’s a lot of new energy. It’s a lot of great new players that we have, and I’m loving what we’re doing.”
What’s your mindset after your rookie season? It seemed like you spent a lot of time in Cleveland working out. Why was it important for you to be here instead of going anywhere else and working out?
“Well, this is the most important thing I have to do in my life. I have a house here. I’m comfortable, and I wanted to take everything to the next level within myself. I know there’s some things that I wanted to improve, and I took a lot of time to self-reflect and just view a lot of things just from a different perspective, honestly. And I think I covered a lot of ground with that.”
Jimmy Haslam mentioned at the owner’s meetings that he felt like you really kind of took it to heart what it takes to be a pro in this league and that part of sticking around, you worked really hard on things, your body looked different. Does he have that right, that you kind of figured that whole thing out?
“What does that mean? Does he have that right?”
Did Jimmy Haslam characterize that correctly, that you kind of figured out everything that it takes to be a pro in this league and really put your heart into it?
“Well, no, I don’t really know everything at all. I’m open to learning every day on just different things. Just in life. I learned how to cut my beard the other day. I try to learn something new every day because I’m not one that just thinks my way is the best way. So, I like to just learn different point of views, different perspective of a lot of things, and just come here with a renewed mindset and just approach life with just a renewed mindset. Just about how I view everything.”
Everybody sort of matures as they grow. How do you feel like you’ve matured the most from this point last year today in terms of overall growth?
“I think you gotta take stuff day by day. I think you can look at things as, like, with your goal. I think if you have like, short term things you want to accomplish and use your time extremely important and knowing what negativity to not let, like, in your everyday circle and just everything you do, like, everything matters. So, I think I just recalibrated my life to view everything as fun.”
Shedeur, in the early weeks and months here, working with Coach (Todd) Monken, like, what’s it been like learning this offensive system?
“Yeah, Coach Monken is great. And all the other coaches on the staff is extremely great. You gotta understand they embrace you just as a person and then they push you each and every day, in the meeting room and on the field, in the weight room. Like, it’s a new vibe. It’s a new energy. The only thing we missing is y’all. We need y’all to have a new vibe, new energy. I know y’all want us to win, so we need some winning energy here. You know what I’m saying? We can’t have too much negativity going on and, you know, you want our players to be the best version of ourselves for y’all, you know? So, I think it’s a community thing. I think we all, like, as a group, have to because everybody’s gonna have kids. Everybody has that. You don’t want to be – you don’t want your kids to be the side effects of, you know, I’m saying what you done did in life, the negativity and all this different type of stuff, you don’t want that. So, let’s approach even this, like, with a better attitude, like, even coming from y’all also.”
Shedeur as you’re learning this playbook, like, what do you like about it and maybe how it fits your skill set?
“I like the ability to just play. It’s a lot of different things, learning the playbook. Like, obviously, we haven’t mastered it yet. It’s still early on, but I take advantage of each and every day, each and every second of my time, each and every hour, to be able to go out to practice today and just be able to fully function out there, to be able to know everything. Like, to me, that’s what success is. You got to put your margin of success for what you think, not for what others think. So be able to go out there, operate new system. A lot of things thrown at you fast. A lot of things, it’s like, okay, it’s a win. So, that’s how you view it.”
What feels the most different for you out here in these first reps of this year’s minicamp? Compared to your rookie year?
“Well, honestly, I mean I was in practice a little more. But nah, honestly, it’s just the vibe, the overall feeling just of the team, you know, it’s the overall feeling of the responsibility of our players. Like, there was one play I threw Malachi (Corley) a go ball and he slowed down, I said, hey, I gave him that look, said, ‘bro, we can’t afford that, bro. We can’t afford that.’ So, then you give God’s chances and things go your way, things don’t. But at the end day, y’all have a serious deeper connection and then know, okay, now I know what this showed me. So, the next time he got there, he lined up one on one, then he was able to go get it. So it’s just a responsibility that each and every one of us take to hold each other accountable for everything. Even in the quarterback room, it’s a great relationship in there. Nobody feels any type of way towards each other. We all focus on what we have to do as individuals to get better.”
So, through your first season, how like have you learned to kind of take care of your body, into the offseason? What have you kind of done differently that might have changed from your original regimen?
“I think it’s honestly about like talking to coach. I think coach just spoke life into me. And then like when you do that, you just get the best result for me. Honestly, like, that’s what you get. So, I was here one day and he was like, ‘well, if you want to be the best quarterback you want to be, then you got to do that on a daily thing, on a daily regimen, daily time.’ So that’s what clicked for me. And then I was like, ‘okay, I need to improve this area.’ And it’s just one step at a time. You got to do this, you got to do this. You keep adding things as you start getting momentum and everything. So, I think it’s just having coach just talking to you, like, I think that’s it. Just a relationship. I’m a relationship-based person, so I take relationships extremely serious.”
How do you feel about this year’s competition compared to last year’s competition?
“What you mean by that?”
Competition for the starting job.
“We competing against ourselves because life is a long time. You get what I’m saying? Our time is, it’s on God’s time. You know, we just come in and every day put our deposits in and what we supposed to do and build towards our craft, but it’s not our time. If we thought we had control of anything, then we’ll be fools. You know, that’s not up to us. It’s up to us to approach every day and take advantage of each and every rep in each and every time. Even when people, even when players aren’t, even we not in being able to take advantage of those reps also. So, it’s not on our time.”
Is this your time?
“That’s not up to me. I go out there every day and focus on what I can control. If I focus on something I can’t control, then I’ll be living the wrong way.”
What do you think about when a year ago you weren’t even drafted yet. All that’s happened in that year, when you think back on that, what stands out the most?
“I’m thankful. I’m thankful. I’m thankful that everything happened how it happened. I’m thankful that my appreciation for a lot of things is what it is now. I’m thankful that I don’t really have to chase. I’m thankful I got a great family. I’m thankful I get to see great people, that I’m able to be an inspiration to people. Because I mean, like, I think I’m just thankful overall. I don’t look at anything as a negative. When you start looking at things as a negative and that’s when you grow spite and hatred, you know, and nothing positive comes out of that. So, I view everything, it’s just like I’m just happy, I’m thankful, I’m blessed. I was in a position to where I can handle everything that comes my way. So now I feel bulletproof.”
But was last year a humbling experience for you, Shedeur?
“What does humbling mean?”
Well, you know, you were the man at Colorado, at Jackson State, probably in high school and not right away here.
“I feel like I was a man. I don’t let nobody else dictate how I feel about myself. If you allow that, then you living for the wrong reasons. I know who I am as a person, as an individual and just being a child of God. So, I can’t let nobody dictate how I could feel about myself. And if I allow that, then I’m not mentally strong. I got to be able to be mentally strong in each and every situation that life throws at you.”
Shedeur, obviously you talked a lot last year about how Deshaun (Watson) mentored you guys and helped you guys in more like a classroom setting. And then he was out on the field a little bit later in the season. Like, how has your relationship with him kind of grown, and what’s it been like with him these first couple weeks, especially now that he can be out on the field full time?
“Yeah, well, it was great. He’s a vet. He did a lot. He accomplished a lot in his career, obviously. So, when I have questions about certain things, I ask him, like, ‘what you think about this?’ And I just like hearing his perspective of problems that I could have or the way how I think about things. Just see hearing the way how he thinks of things and hearing the way how Dillon (Gabriel) think of things and hearing the way coach think of things. Like, all those things, you just gain other people’s perspective to form your own thought and what you want to do.”
Shedeur, going back to learning the offense this year, what would you describe as some of the similarities to last year’s offensive differences and how have you seen yourself, like, come to learn some of the new principles?
“The similarities? I mean, it’s 11-on-11. I don’t try to compare anything. I don’t try to live in a comparison world. Like, I try to forget the negatives, take the good things and just move forward. So, like, respectfully, I just don’t want to talk about last year or anything because it doesn’t help us move forward. Like, we’re not in last year no more. We’re in this year. So, I don’t even need to think about anything last year but review tape and review what could I have done better in certain situations? How can I manage the line of scrimmage better? How could I know each and every details where the alignment they’re on, where it’s plus two, minus two if they’re in the edge split, like, all these different details, like, that’s what I take from last year. I don’t really take a comparison thing.”
And I guess on that note, how have you gone about learning the playbook? What’s your process for learning new concepts and new terminology?
“I think I know how I learn. I know how I learn. So, knowing that I know how I learn is great, you know, and the coaches are able to, like, communicate in different ways to help you learn. And that’s why I appreciate the coaching staff, honestly, because, like, you could say somebody don’t know how to learn, but it’s like, how did the person get all the way to this level if you don’t know how to learn? So, then you got to change the perspective and think, does he not know how to learn? But does he not know how to learn or do I not know how to communicate with him? It’s just simple as that. Like, so I’m just thankful that my coaches now, like, are extremely embracing.”
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