Sanders was drafted by the Browns with the 144th pick in the NFL draft / Ron Chenoy-Imagn Images
Shedeur Sanders was finally drafted on the third day of the NFL draft with the 144th pick. The Cleveland Browns negotiated a trade with the Seattle Seahawks to move up into position to select the Colorado quarterback.
The outspoken quarterback, son of Buffaloes head coach Deion Sanders, will be highly scrutinized in the NFL just as he has been at virtually every step of his amateur career. The Cleveland Browns have not necessarily positioned him with an easy path forward, rostering five quarterbacks (once contracts have been inked with their new draftees) ahead of the 2025 season after they also selected Dillon Gabriel in the third round.
Set to manage expectations will be Browns general manager Andrew Berry and head coach Kevin Stefanski. Here’s what Berry had to say about the early expectations he laid out for the rookie quarterback:
“Gotta come in, gotta come in to work, and you gotta come in to win. That’s the message. Nothing is given,” Berry said to the media (H/T Brad Stainbrook).
He later added, “We told him it really doesn’t matter where you’re picked, it’s what you do from that point forward,” which sounds like a fairly direct acknowledgement that the Browns passed on Sanders for a different quarterback earlier in the draft that he will now be competing with on the depth chart.
Cleveland’s training camp just became one of the most interesting ones to keep an eye on. Sanders seems excited to get going.