Sanders remained focused on rookie season during father's cancer battle

BEREA, Ohio (AP) — Shedeur Sanders didn't have time to be sad while his father battled bladder cancer during the spring. Instead, Deion Sanders' message was clear and direct as his son prepared for his first NFL training camp after being drafted in the fifth round by the Cleveland Browns. Stay focused mentally. "Dad, he's one person that he'll handle his, we handle what we've got to do. It was like, 'y'all need to focus on what y'all could focus on. Y'all can't sit here and feel sorry for me, and then that's affecting y'all doing that." Shedeur Sanders said Monday. "At the end of the day, you're all able to see and you're all able to understand everything on and off the field that I go through. So then you've got to be some type of human at some point in the way I'm doing everything and how I'm handling everything that's thrown at me. You've got no choice but to applaud that." Monday marked Sanders' first time talking to reporters since his father, Hall of Famer Deion Sanders, announced on July 28 that doctors had removed his bladder to ward off an aggressive form of cancer. Shedeur was back on the field after missing Saturday's practice because of arm soreness. To say Shedeur Sanders has had an eventful first eight-plus months of 2025 would be an understatement. There was the hype about him being a possible first-round pick leading up to the NFL draft, followed by a well-publicized drop to the fifth round, where he was taken 144th overall by the Browns. The Browns are bringing along Sanders slowly, with veterans Joe Flacco and Kenny Pickett competing for the starting job. Third-round pick Dillon Gabriel has also received some first-team snaps. So far, Sanders hasn't taken any snaps with the first-team offense. He has faced the first-team defense a couple of times while taking snaps with the second- and third-team offenses. "I view it as the defense does a great job of mixing players in. So (line)backers, you've got rookies out there. Sometimes DBs, you've got different guys out there," he said. "Truthfully, I don't care what O-line I go out there with. It could be ones, twos, threes, whatever the situation is. And I know Friday when the game is, if I'm with twos, if I'm with threes. It don't matter to me. I'm just ready to get down and get to doing what I could." While Deion Sanders visited Shilo Sanders during the Buccaneers' training camp on July 23, the focus soon shifted to when Coach Prime would appear in Cleveland. Shedeur, however, asked his father to stay away because of the lack of snaps and the attention that would follow. "I don't want him to come and see me get a couple of reps, and then he's cheering like a good dad. Like, 'nah, you can't be proud of me right now, I got to get to where I'm going,' I know there's a lot I've got to do to get there," Sanders said. "I just want everything that I'm doing to be focused on this time, and I don't want distractions. "We know how everybody would take it, as taking away from the team, with my own dad showing up. It's a gift and a curse at the same time." Coach Kevin Stefanski and offensive coordinator Tommy Rees have not outlined how snaps will be divided for Wednesday's joint practice and Friday's game against the Carolina Panthers. Part of this uncertainty comes from Pickett and Gabriel both dealing with hamstring injuries. Both did individual drills on Monday. The recent trend throughout the league is for veteran players to receive most of the snaps in joint workouts, with rookies then playing in the preseason games. For Sanders and Gabriel, the games would be the best indicators to date on how they can adapt to things on the fly. "You're (quarterback is) obviously not wearing a red jersey, so you're free game in those situations, whereas you're not in practice or a joint practice with another team," Stefanski said. "So I think those are all things that we weigh as coaches trying to figure out what our team needs for a given season, for a given week." Sanders did have one of the best throws on Monday with a 28-yard completion to Luke Floriea on fourth-and-17 during a two-minute drill. ___ AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/nfl