How Shedeur Sanders fared in first 2026 start: Browns QB shines late vs. Saints

When the Cleveland Browns announced that Shedeur Sanders would be starting Sunday's matchup against the New Orleans Saints, no one was sure what to expect. Deshaun Watson was not exactly the fan favorite to win Cleveland's quarterback battle this offseason, but he led the Browns to a 5-3 start with five game-winning drives. After Watson suffered a concussion during the Week 8 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers, it was Sanders' turn to show what he could do.

The second-year signal-caller completed 19 of 31 passes for 297 yards and two touchdowns in a 23-22 overtime loss in New Orleans. Sanders became the only quarterback to register multiple 60-yard completions this season, and the first Browns quarterback to throw for 250 yards, two touchdowns and zero interceptions in a game since Jameis Winston in 2024, per CBS Sports Research.

This was a bizarre yet entertaining affair that featured 33 total points scored in the fourth quarter and overtime after the final stanza began tied 6-6. Sanders himself also put together a sleepy performance through three quarters before the points started coming in bunches.

Shedeur Sanders in Week 9

First three quartersFourth quarter and OT

Passing attempts and completions

7/12

12/19

Passing yards

100

197

TD-INT

0-0

2-0

With Sanders in the lineup, we got to see how he operates with all of Cleveland's new young talent. That includes Denzel Boston, who leads all rookie receivers in yards. He caught six passes for a career-high 98 yards on Sunday.

After the Saints acquired a 9-6 lead in the fourth quarter, Sanders threw KC Concepcion's first NFL touchdown — a 64-yard pass where the versatile playmaker did most of the work. Concepcion caught four passes for 85 yards. He and Boston became the only rookie duo in the past 35 years to record 60-yard receptions in the same game.

Sanders also led a game-tying drive at the end of the fourth quarter. Down 16-13, Sanders took the Browns offense 41 yards down the field on seven plays to set up an Andre Szmyt 51-yard field goal. That includes this gritty throw to Jerry Jeudy for a gain of 30, where Sanders stood tall and delivered a strike despite taking physical punishment from Chase Young.

The Saints got the ball first to start overtime, and Tyler Shough marched his offense 74 yards down the field on 11 plays and found Juwan Johnson for a touchdown. When Sanders took over, he threw a 39-yard touchdown to Harold Fannin Jr. that will go down as one of the plays of the year.

There was no crowd-caused earthquake, but it was reminiscent of Marshawn Lynch's run against the Saints in 2011.

Todd Monken elected to go for the win instead of the tie and sent his offense out for the two-point conversion. Unfortunately, Sanders' pass to Boston fell incomplete, and the Browns fell to 5-4.

Will Sanders start again?

It was a pretty good game from the Browns' QB2, but was it good enough to get him promoted to QB1? CBS Sports analyst and Steelers legend Bill Cowher thinks so.

"Shedeur Sanders should be the starter for this football team. He's going to be the future, and I think what he showed today — his resilience — he continued to come back, he made great decisions, he extended plays. I love the way he played and I would move forward with Shedeur Sanders," Cowher said.

This performance would be good enough for Sanders to be promoted if Watson were disappointing. Again, Watson just became the third quarterback since 1970 to register a game-winning drive in each of a team's first five wins of a season. He's playing the best football of his Cleveland career. However, he's coming off back-to-back games with 300 passing yards, but also zero touchdowns.

Monken will surely be asked multiple times about his starting quarterback moving forward in the coming days, but right now, he's just proud that his QB2 stepped up and answered the bell.

"I'm really proud of him and how hard he's worked since I've been here," Monken told reporters. "He wasn't perfect. I wasn't perfect. But for a guy that really hasn't taken snaps with the ones in 10 weeks ... to come in there and continue to battle. Really, really proud of him. He's really matured."