Shedeur Sanders was already staring up at three other NFL quarterbacks in Cleveland.
Being ticketed for driving 101 miles per hour — 40 mph above the posted speed limit — could become a minor part of Sanders’ professional football career.
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But it was another reminder of the constant spotlight that follows the 23-year-old quarterback, who grew up as Deion Sanders’ son and fell to the fifth round of the recent NFL Draft as team after team passed on his first-round talent.
“Not exactly helping his case but also not that serious,” one fan tweeted, after Sanders’ 101 mph ticket made news on Wednesday.
The standard line is a true one: If Sanders wasn’t famous, his 101 mph ticket never would have been made public.
But it’s not Sanders’ first speeding issue since being drafted by the Browns.
He was also stopped for driving 91 mph in June, according to WJW-TV.
“I’m just a little boy,” a smiling Sanders said in a video recorded at a charity softball game.
“I’ve made some wrong choices personally, I can own up to ’em.”
Sanders is also already super-famous, and longtime Cleveland Browns insider Tony Grossi exclusively told talkSPORT this week that he’s never seen anything like Sanders’ rookie popularity.
“We’ve had Baker Mayfield here, Johnny Manziel, and Shedeur’s fandom is as passionate,” Gross said.
“I don’t know what the best word to describe them is, other than they’re all on you if you say or write or hint anything negative that Shedeur is not the greatest player in history.
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“So that’s what’s unique about this situation. Shedeur was a fifth-round pick and he’s selling more jerseys than any rookie who was drafted.”
Seventeen years ago in Cleveland, another 23-year-old star athlete was unbelievably popular — and he also was ticketed for driving 101 mph.
“I was doing 101,” LeBron James said in 2008.
“That’s it. I was speeding. I’ve just got to abide by the law. I got
caught. It happens.”
James, who was known as The Chosen One in high school, eventually became The King of the NBA and could become a team owner in the future.
When he turned 23, the former Cavalier was ticketed for driving 101 mph in a 65-mph zone in Medina, a Cleveland suburb.
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Facebook hadn’t launched yet, while Twitter was just a social-media dream.
James was a young man still adapting to his new worldwide power, while annually finishing in the top-five of NBA MVP voting with a Cavs team on the rise.
His 2008 comments would be picked apart word by word on social media in 2025.
“I don’t know, maybe at times,” said James, after being asked if he would continue driving at high speeds.
“It’s not a big deal to me. You’ve just got to abide by the rules that’s all. I made a mistake and I’ll live with it.
“I’m not going to jail or nothing like that. I wasn’t drunk. I was just speeding. That’s it.”
James was never getting cut by the Cavs, who catered to their young king for years.
There’s no guarantee that Sanders makes the Browns’ Week 1 active roster, and the 2026 NFL Draft could challenge his place in Cleveland again.
More than 140 college prospects were drafted before Sanders, and he was shadowed by rumors that he didn’t take the pre-draft process seriously.
James was able to overcome his early miscues and build a global legacy that’s now bigger than basketball.
Sanders is just getting started in Cleveland, but he’s only made it harder on himself since leaving Colorado and losing his dad as his head coach.
New Browns teammate Deshaun Watson is the perfect reminder of what can happen when athletic talent and fame are taken for granted.
No one will remember Sanders’ speeding tickets in a few years — unless he doesn’t allow his critics to forget them.
“I learned,” a laughing Sanders said at Browns teammate David Njoku’s charity game.
“I learned. I learned.”