Shedeur Sanders has spent much of the 2026 season watching from the sideline. With Deshaun Watson leading the Cleveland Browns to a 3-1 start, Sanders has had little reason to step onto the field. Yet even without playing, the second-year quarterback remains a talking point whenever his name comes up.

Now, Shedeur Sanders is addressing something he has dealt with for years: the idea that people simply do not like him.

“I don’t think a lot of people really know me,” Shedeur Sanders told Cosmopolitan. “You hear a lot of things online, but every encounter I have in person, people end up saying, ‘Oh, wow, he’s actually a great guy.’ Why would you think I’m a bad guy?”

That perception has followed Sanders since his college days and only grew after he entered the NFL. His confidence, outspoken personality, and the constant attention surrounding his father, Pro Football Hall of Famer Deion Sanders, have made him one of the league’s more polarizing young players.

A year after he joined the league, Sanders is starting to understand that he cannot control everything people say about him.

“I live in my own world,” he told Cosmopolitan when asked how closely he follows what people think about his football situation.

The quarterback’s NFL journey has also given critics plenty to talk about. Cleveland selected him 144th overall in the 2025 draft, but he quickly moved up the depth chart as a rookie.

Shedeur appeared in eight games and started seven (going 3-4), throwing for 1,400 yards, seven touchdowns, and 10 interceptions, and later earned a Pro Bowl spot as a replacement for Drake Maye.

This season, though, his role has changed dramatically. Watson won the starting job during the preseason and has helped Cleveland win three straight after the Browns opened the year with a loss. Sanders has appeared in just one game, completing his only pass attempt for no gain in Cleveland’s Week 3 win over the Carolina Panthers.

That lack of playing time has naturally brought more scrutiny. Sanders has been the subject of discussion around his body language on the sideline, while trade speculation has also surfaced as Cleveland manages a crowded quarterback room.

Still, Sanders is not presenting himself as someone consumed by the outside noise.

“I’ve been looking at things a lot more lately, like, ‘Why would people think this?’ It’s not something I’m going to put [solely] on myself, but I do want to fix that,” Sanders said. “I want to connect with more people, so they can meet me and see the truth.”

For now, Watson remains the Browns’ starter, while Sanders remains the backup. But the quarterback’s latest comments make it clear that, even while waiting for another opportunity on the field, he is actively trying to change the way people see him.