Kevin Stefanski breaks his silence on his handling of Shedeur Sanders during time together with Cleveland Browns
Shedeur Sanders' is one of the most polarizing players in the NFL, so the conversations around him tend to take on a life of their own.
One of the most controversial narratives that formed after Sanders' arrived in Cleveland as a fifth-round pick by the Browns, centered around head coach Kevin Stefanski "sabotaging" the Colorado product.
Stefanski didn't help matters when he declared the Browns Qb situation and open competition between the four signal callers on the roster. Sanders was then noticeably fourth in the order during spring workouts and into training camp that summer.
At times, he was throwing passes to ball boys at practice because he was buried so far down the depth chart, while fellow rookie Dillon Gabriel even flirted with first-team reps.
The entire setup left Sanders' staunchest of supports skeptical of Stefanski's motives.
With Stefanski now out of Cleveland following his firing last month, the newly anointed Atlanta Falcons head man shared his honest thoughts on Sanders, during an appearance on the Pardon My Take podcast, and rebuffed the "sabaotae" conspiracy theory in the process.
"I would say this, I love Shedeur. I loved coaching him, seriously," said Stefanski. "He's got the right makeup for this game. He was wired the right way. I wish that we'd won more, obviously. But if you saw how he played down the stretch, I mean he's a young player who's getting better. I'm not coaching him anymore, so I know I have to be careful talking about other players, but I am rooting for him."
Despite how the competition may have played out, with veteran Joe Flacco and Gabriel each starting before Sanders, the 24-year-old still wound up starting the most games under center in 2025 with seven.
In eight total appearances, Sanders completed 56.6% of his passes, for 1,400 yards, 10 touchdowns and seven interceptions. There was an obvious jolt to the Browns' offense when Sanders took over and he delivered plenty of positive moments along the way.
There were also plenty of growing pains as well, though, and while Stefanski could have pivoted to a different QB, he stuck with Sanders to close out the season.
As Stefanski mentioned, the winning wasn't there. The Browns finished 5-12, leading to his firing, which the ex-Cleveland head coach revealed he was told was happening several days before his team's season finale with the Cincinnati Bengals.
As Stefanski and Sanders go their separate ways, it's clear the former wanted to set the record straight on his time working together.
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