Shedeur Sanders earned his first win of his NFL career on Sunday, but as with anything the rookie quarterback does, it wasn't without heavy scrutiny.
Sanders finished with 209 passing yards, one touchdown and one interception in the Browns' 24-10 win over the Raiders, putting together a solid outing to lift Cleveland to its third win of the season. After the game, ESPN analyst Kendrick Perkins wasn't concerned with Sanders's final statline—instead, he took issue with Browns coach Kevin Stefanski not giving Sanders enough credit during Stefanki's locker room speech in a video shared by the Browns' social media team.
In the roughly one minute-and-a-half video, Stefanski publicly praised several players including rookie punt returner Gage Larvadain and punter Corey Bojorquez. When it came to the offense, Stefanski said, "Offense, wasn't perfect. How about that big play by [Dylan Sampson] at the end... and then another rookie making his first start, nice job Shedeur. Well done." Stefanski also ended up giving the game ball to Myles Garrett, who logged a dominant three-sack game against the Raiders.
Though Stefanski gave the rookie quarterback a shout-out, Perk seemed to think Stefanski should have laid more praise on Sanders.
"Cupcake a-- probably texted Dillon [Gabriel], 'missed you out there capt,'" Perk wrote on X (formerly known as Twitter).
Cupcake ass probably texted Dillon, “missed you out there capt” https://t.co/xL8tjroGLl
— Kendrick Perkins (@KendrickPerkins) November 24, 2025
Former Fox analyst Emmanuel Acho appeared to agree with Perkins and thought Stefanski could have been a bit more enthusiastic and fired-up talking about Sanders in the light of the team win:
Somebody show this to Kevin Stefanski. This is how he should speak life into Shedeur Sanders, it’s not hard. https://t.co/ulpSWFKlvH pic.twitter.com/F2JiUzZLJD
— Emmanuel Acho (@EmmanuelAcho) November 24, 2025
Stefanski's relationship with Sanders has been put under a magnifying glass ever since the offseason, when Browns owner Jimmy Haslam made clear that GM Andrew Berry was the one who wanted to draft Sanders, not Stefanski. Sanders only got the start in Week 12 after former starter Joe Flacco was traded away and fellow rookie Dillon Gabriel got hurt, not to mention Stefanski has typically been very curt in pressers when asked about the Colorado product.
Following the Browns' win on Sunday, Stefanski declined to name a starter between Sanders and Gabriel for next week's game against the 49ers.
"I'm not going to get into that," Stefanski said. "Obviously, proud of [Sanders] and proud of this offense and there are a ton of things to learn from, but I'm just going to worry about today."
Expect more drama to come in Sanders's high-profile debut year in the pros.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Kendrick Perkins Takes Bizarre Shot at Browns Coach Over Shedeur Sanders Disrespect.
