Still curious why Shedeur Sanders fell in the NFL Draft? The answer is right there in social media posts showing his throws at Browns practice. They look great. But they’re the most overblown minicamp passes in the history of the NFL. If the Sanders hype reaches this level in June, can you imagine running a team with him sitting on the bench in November?
Last week, ESPN Cleveland got it started by posting Sanders’ practice stats: 7-for-9, 3 TDs, 0 INTs. No mention of the fact that he was playing other fourth-stringers and it was 7-on-7, not 11-on-11. That’s barely a step up from keeping an NBA player’s shooting percentage in the lay-up line.
This week Sanders upgraded to full team practice and once again had good numbers (9-for-14, 3 TDs, 1), in the session that was open to the media. The overreaction, even from former players, was predictable.
Amplifying video of every completion or coming up with a hot take that Sanders should start Week 1 isn’t going to put the rookie quarterback in a better position. For the Browns, it adds pressure to an already difficult quarterback situation. Teams that passed on Sanders in the draft must be relieved that they don’t have to deal with the same level of hysteria.
The NFL Network released its preseason television schedule and the Browns are the one team they will feature all three weeks. The quarterback competition between Joe Flacco, Kenny Pickett, Dillon Gabriel and Sanders is must-watch TV. If the games weren’t nationally televised, the NFL Network would probably cut into Sanders’ preseason snaps like ESPN did with Aaron Judge or Barry Bonds during their home run chases.
As the offseason continues, the parallels between Sanders and another high-profile quarterback are becoming clearer. Sanders is an updated version of Tim Tebow. Sanders is a very different player and potentially a much better quarterback. He is certainly a more developed pocket passer coming into the NFL. But Tebow was a first-round pick who was thought to have potential. The problem is that he instantly became the biggest story when he arrived in a new training camp. Teams never had a chance to take him aside and quietly try to develop him as a player.
Tebow, however, isn’t worst-case scenario for Sanders. That would be Johnny Manziel, the only Browns rookie who challenged Sanders in terms of creating buzz. In 2014, the Browns drafted Johnny Football at No. 21 overall. That season they started out with veteran Brian Hoyer and played well enough to get to 7-6. Amidst great fanfare, they finally gave Manziel a shot in Week 14. The Browns lost 30-0 to the Bengals at home and kicked off a nightmare three-year run of futility.
Sanders doesn’t seem to have any similarities to Manziel off the field. But Manziel is a reminder that hype alone doesn’t win football games – especially in Cleveland. And sometimes public pressure can force teams to put in a player before he’s ready.
Right now, Sanders is the fourth-string quarterback. According to reports from OTAs, he’s the only quarterback who hasn’t worked with the first team yet. He has a long climb to make the starting lineup. Bigger picture, Sanders’ competition goes beyond just Flacco, Pickett and Gabriel. After trading back from No. 2 to No. 5 in the draft, the Browns hold the Jaguars’ 2026 first-round pick. Vegas projects Cleveland to win 6.5 games this season and Jacksonville to win 7.5. The Browns have an excellent chance to land a top-10 draft pick and take another quarterback with their own pick; they could potentially package both first-round picks to get the No. 1 pick.
This is the assignment for Sanders: Beat out Flacco, who already won Comeback Player of the Year in coach Kevin Stefanski’s offense. Beat out Pickett, a former first-round pick that coaches are raving about this spring. Beat out Gabriel, who went two rounds higher and is currently ahead of him on the depth chart. Then, if Sanders does all that, play well enough to convince the team not to use what we expect to be a high pick on a QB next season.
Sanders probably thought turning around a one-win Colorado team was the hardest challenge he’d ever face. Welcome to Cleveland, Shedeur.
With all these obstacles in front of him, prominent national media members still claim Sanders has a great chance to be on the field by Week 1. The start of the Browns’ schedule is brutal:
• vs. Cincinnati
• @Baltimore
• vs. Green Bay
• @Detroit
• vs. Minnesota
• @ Pittsburgh
Stefanski would be accused of football malpractice to drop Sanders into that hornet’s nest. More likely one of the two veterans, Flacco and Pickett, get the shot in September. If they’re good, they will be able to keep the job. At that point, Sanders would have to wait for injuries. If they’re bad, the tanking has probably begun and Sanders’ future in Cleveland is limited.
If you’re one of Sanders’ many fans, you might think you’re helping him by going to social media and claiming he’s the next Patrick Mahomes after he throws the ball in the flat to an uncovered running back. Or knocking down the other Browns quarterbacks for their obvious flaws because you hope Shedeur wins the job. You’re doing the opposite. You’re part of the reason Sanders had the most dramatic fall in draft history. The only people more excited than Sanders-backers commenting on his limited highlights are rival GMs who don’t have to deal with the distraction of having the most visible fourth-string quarterback in the NFL.
