Historians debate whether or not he actually said this, but the famous quote “history will be kind to me for I intend to write it” is attributed to Winston Churchill. Cleveland Browns quarterback Shedeur Sanders gets the chance to write his own story, beginning this Sunday, when he makes his first ever professional start against the Las Vegas Raiders.
Sanders made his NFL debut last weekend against the Baltimore Ravens, and it did not go well. And this rough start is just yet another similarity to the story of Johnny Manziel.
In Sanders and Manziel, you have two children of wealth and privilege (Johnny Football didn’t have a celebrity dad, but he did come from fourth-generation Texas oil money) who developed into larger than life star quarterbacks. Both had big personalities that led to an excessive amount of media coverage, but at the same time, widespread questions about their individual character off-the-field.
However, despite some character concerns, both Sanders and Johnny Football entered the Draft with very high stock. Then a huge NFL Draft slide occurs, and the polarizing QB eventually ends up in Cleveland, but only after the Browns pass over their first chance to draft him.
Next we see Browns fans get very hyped for the debut, but the earliest returns are extremely disappointing.
In his first NFL start, in week 15 of the 2015 season, Manziel went 10-of-18 passing for 80 yards and two interceptions, a 27.3 passer rating while also getting sacked three times. The Browns lost 30–0 to their in-state rival Cincinnati Bengals.
Last Sunday versus division rival Baltimore, Sanders was 4 of 16 passing for 47 yards, 2.9 yards per pass, one INT, a QBR of only 2.4 and 13.5 passer rating.
This weekend could of course, mark the moment where history stops repeating, and Sanders starts to develop into the superstar that he has long been hyped up to be.
Because after all, as Henry Ford famously said, “history is more or less bunk.”
This article originally appeared on Draft Wire: Shedeur Sanders evoking Johnny Manziel deja vu for Browns fans
