Ever since Colorado quarterback Shedeur Sanders fell to the fifth round of the 2025 NFL Draft before the Cleveland Browns traded up to take him at pick No. 144, numerous stories have detailed how Sanders bombed interviews with teams from the scouting combine through April.
On Friday, ESPN's Daniel Oyefusi and Jeremy Fowler explained in a lengthy piece why the Browns felt comfortable with drafting Sanders when they did after Cleveland and every other team passed on the polarizing prospect a handful of times.
"One source from another team that was in the quarterback market had heard the Browns' process with Sanders went smoother than it did for others," Oyefusi and Fowler shared.
Oyefusi and Fowler noted that "word had gotten out among some coaching and front office sources in the league that Sanders struggled with the New York Giants and possibly other teams during predraft visits and meetings." A previous report suggested that Giants head coach Brian Daboll essentially felt Sanders wasn't properly prepared for his visit with the club. As recently as Thursday, Pro Football Talk's Mike Florio revealed that at least one unnamed general manager feels that Sanders "treated the predraft process as if he was being 'recruited,' not as if he was being 'interviewed.'"
It's also become clear that scouts, analysts and teams simply didn't have a first-round grade on Sanders before the night of April 24 arrived. In an article posted on Thursday, The Athletic's Mike Sando mentioned that one evaluator said people around the NFL eventually "caught up to the evaluation that [Sanders was] not a first-round prospect."
According to Oyefusi and Fowler, one "team source said the Browns believed many teams had a Day 2 grade on Sanders -- another team source described being surprised as Sanders fell into Day 3 -- but acknowledged potential high picks slide to later rounds every year, though not as publicized as his."
The Browns shocked many observers when they drafted Oregon quarterback Dillon Gabriel at pick No. 94, as analysts viewed him as a third-day pick. Most understandably assumed after Cleveland general manager Andrew Berry selected Gabriel that Sanders would no longer be an option for the Browns, and it now seems that some within the NFL community will always believe Browns owner Jimmy Haslam was behind the decision to bring Sanders to Cleveland because the signal-caller attracts attention and generates headlines.
However, Oyefusi and Fowler wrote that Cleveland ultimately "decided to take a late third-round flier on a prospect Berry believed provided too much value to pass up at that point."
A franchise that hasn't had a single successful long-term QB1 since it returned to the NFL in 1999 will now enter training camp with Sanders, Gabriel, veteran Joe Flacco and 2022 first-round choice Kenny Pickett competing to be its Week 1 starter. If Sanders earns the gig and then impresses with his play, Berry could be responsible for one of the best draft decisions made during the 2020s.
