Browns quarterback Shedeur Sanders enters his first NFL start against the Raiders with the weight of expectations on his shoulders, but one former member of Las Vegas's organization thinks he'll live up to the moment.
Ahead of Sunday's Browns-Raiders game, former Raiders coach Antonio Pierce spoke about his high hopes for Sanders and made some surprising revelations as well. Pierce revealed that the Colorado product was one of his "top choices" back when he was with the Raiders, and that he would have lobbied to draft him in April had he still been with the organization.
"If I were to stay there, there's no way he goes to the fifth round," Pierce said, adding that Raiders owner Mark Davis would have been on board with that decision.
Sanders ended up getting picked up by the Browns in the fifth round after widely rumored links to the Raiders and Saints, among other quarterback-needy teams.
Pierce went on to give his honest take on how Sanders would fare in his first full NFL game:
"One thing about Shedeur, I think we see all the glitz and glamour, hitting the watch [celly] and what time it is... he's born for this," Pierce said. "His pedigree is for moments of this magnitude that he's going into.
"I expect him today to play well. And it's not because it's his first start, but the Raiders defense is not very good, especially in the passing game. And I think he'll have an exceptional game today honestly against the Raiders, I expect him to do well. ... Go back to when you were in high school, Jackson State, at Colorado, when we thought at some point you were going to be a first-round draft pick. Because the talent is there—now you got to prove it to the rest of the world."
Antonio Pierce and the Raiders were all in on Shedeur Sanders pic.twitter.com/Z8xz1F0p7R
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Sanders played roughly two quarters of action in his debut against the Ravens last week, throwing for just 47 yards and one interception and taking two sacks. The rookie quarterback will look to find his groove on Sunday, with fellow Browns signal-caller Deshaun Watson reportedly prepared to help him out on the sidelines.
"The guy plays well, it's just that he's Deion's son. And we overly criticize this kid from Day 1, and it started with the draft. And again, you might now like his persona, you might not like his aura about himself, but Cleveland does," said Pierce. "Every time he comes into the game, those fans, they go nuts. And he's a guy that I think is going to bring some excitement, I think he's going to bring some energy and some life to an organization that has struggled for so long at the quarterback position."
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Antonio Pierce Drops Bold Prediction for Shedeur Sanders’s First NFL Start.
