Shedeur Sanders confronts 'negative' reporter before NFL debut

Shedeur Sanders confronts 'negative' reporter before NFL debut originally appeared on Athlon Sports.

Thirty-three years ago, there was a sports feud that reached the level of ‘action taken’. After a known history between Deion Sanders and MLB writer Tim McCarver, the issue reached a point of no return when McCarver chose to rip Deion Sanders’ “Double Play Day” (where he played an NFL game and an MLB playoff game in the same day).

McCarver’s take was more of a publicity stunt by someone pretending to play baseball as opposed to how everyone else in the known world views it. As one of the greatest athletic achievements of all time. Then after the Braves won the National League Pennant, in the locker room where media people would be located inside a confined space, Deion tossed gallons of water on McCarver multiple times.

A decision many fans applauded after a long run of reporting many felt was below the belt.  CBS, McCarver and his producer all took serious exception to his action. This sense that a reporter or writer being on the wrong side of history and using their platform irresponsibly still exists today.

Fast forward to this year and Deion Sanders has put multiple college players in the NFL. Two of which are his own children. People can say many things about Deion Sanders, but not preparing his sons is certainly not one of them. Shedeur and Shilo Sanders are two of the best media trained rookies maybe ever. Shedeur specifically found himself in a media market that tends to chew up and spit out rookies that aren’t prepared for the moment.

The Cleveland sports media landscape is a tale of two types. The old guard and the younger generation who are not married to an old logic. From the moment Shedeur was drafted 144th in the fifth round, one Cleveland reporter has been consistently on the wrong side of this and as recently as Thursday still refused to accept that, doubling down at every turn.

Insert long time Cleveland Browns beat writer, Tony Grossi. Not to be confused with radio personality Tony Rizzo. Tony Rizzo is probably the biggest Shedeur superfan in Cleveland media. When fans outside Cleveland were picking up on lazy narratives and asking who is coming up with this nonsense, the answer was most likely Tony Grossi. He had some cohorts early, but even Mary Kay Cabot has begun to change her tune once the wind started blowing in the other direction. Grossi has a long history of this behavior.

A long time print journalist, Grossi seems to still be under the impression that no one will ever see what he sees at various events, leaving him to have an arrogance in his reporting. The problem with that is we live in a technological age and it’s not the 1990s anymore. Grossi shaped his reporting and narratives as if he was the only authority on what is going on at Browns camp. As if everyone else in the football watching world wouldn’t see what he saw and be able to deduce his level of subjective bias.

After the draft, throughout rookie minicamp and even into voluntary minicamp, Grossi could not stop himself from pushing the ‘order of operations’ narrative. Kenny Pickett was acquired first which must mean they like him the most. Then they signed Joe Flacco. Then they drafted Dillon Gabriel. Making Shedeur Sanders fourth in the order of priority based on that antiquated logic. The issue with that logic is that it died right about the time College Football coaches stopped picking starting QBs based on seniority and NFL teams stopped starting the rookie QB no matter what based on an elite salary. While Grossi hasn’t uttered that order of operations line recently, it’s evident he still believes it to some degree.

As every other QB not named Shedeur Sanders took team period reps with the starting offense, Grossi again attempted to twist the knife. Every comment about Shedeur, especially during his segments on ESPN Cleveland (formerly 850 am WKNR), was dripping with condescension. It seemed to be Grossi’s intention to paint Shedeur Sanders as the tagalong of the QB competition. The ‘also ran’ who isn’t a threat to any other QB in the room.  He often commented about the “Shedeur fans” and how they are ruining this process. Also making suggestions that hype won’t win the job.

On a radio appearance on Tony Rizzo’s “The Really Big Show” last week, the topic of Shedeur sitting out of practice with arm soreness came up. All of a sudden, this reporting veteran of over 40 years pretended to not understand the concept of arm soreness with quarterbacks. Further suggesting, his arm shouldn't be sore due to lack of reps. Tony Rizzo pressed him for clarification.

Rizzo maintained that if a guy is not getting a ton of reps and chooses to get in extra work to better prepare himself, that’s a good thing. To which Grossi added, “well it was obviously counterproductive”. Tony Rizzo, the host of the show, almost stormed out of the air studio. It wasn’t until a segment he did the day before Shedeur’s start vs the Panthers that he even verbally conceded that Shedeur ‘maybe’ could improve his standing with a good performance.

Rizz says Grossi is trying to use Shedeur’s sore arm as a negative agenda against him and is FED UP about it 😂😂😂 pic.twitter.com/FuhDtuknB3

— ESPN Cleveland (@ESPNCleveland) August 4, 2025

After his very solid performance vs the Panthers, Shedeur Sanders found Tony Grossi in the bowels of the stadium as Shedeur departed. As Shedeur approached Grossi there was a look he gave, familiar to Buffs fans. This was the same look Shedeur gave Colorado State Head Coach Jay Norvell at the mid field handshake after Norvell took shots at Connie Knight, better known as Momma Prime or Shedeur’s Grandmother.

It was obvious Shedeur was there to prevent anything physical from happening. The look given to Grossi only lasted a few seconds, but if a picture is worth a thousand words, it said plenty. Once Grossi’s attention was with Shedeur, that look dissipated and a polite and unthreatening look took its place. With his hand on Grossi’s shoulder, Shedeur disarmed and still inquired as to Grossi’s issue.

“Tony, I be hoping you got something positive to say about me," Sanders told Grossi. "You only say negative stuff. And I’m like, I ain’t done nothing to you. I don’t see anything positive that you’ve ever said.  (Grossi said something not picked up my microphones that did get Shedeur to laugh, then Shedeur begins to walk away but still talking to Grossi). Come on bro. What’d I do? What’d I to ya Tony?”

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/-KohJb2MJxw

It’s still uncertain if Grossi will come around after Shedeur’s first NFL game. A performance that will assuredly lead off every single sports news show or debate show on Monday. However, there should be some positivity from Shedeur’s actions.

Related: Shedeur Sanders is all over social media following stunning NFL debut

Unlike the McCarver situation, there’s nothing ESPN Cleveland or Bally Sports-Great Lakes could take issue with on Grossi’s behalf because like everything else he’s said to the media since becoming a Brown, Shedeur handled it as perfectly as it could be handled. It’s another in a long line of evidence that all confirm the same thing. Deion Sanders prepared Shedeur Sanders for his moment.  

Related: Deion Sanders' cancer and new bladder procedure, explained

This story was originally reported by Athlon Sports on Aug 10, 2025, where it first appeared.