After it was recently revealed that Shedeur Sanders’ camp steered him away from the Baltimore Ravens and Philadelphia Eagles during the NFL draft, the rookie is happy to be in his current situation.
Speaking to ESPN’s Daniel Oyefusi, Sanders said he was “thankful” for where he’s at right now with the Cleveland Browns:
“It’s fun going out there and competing every day. I’m thankful for my situation. I’m thankful I’m able to see ball in a different light and to be able to get a different perspective than I have and I’m able to grow mentally, physically, emotionally, everything, to become my best self. So that’s [what] I’m so excited about, is that whenever I’m able to showcase it, you know what, even if it’s this year or not this year, I know at the end of the day I’m getting closer to where I want to be.”
Sanders’ comments come in the wake of his father, Deion Sanders, appearing on the New Heightspodcast this week and saying that the Eagles called during the draft to express their interest in Shedeur and that there was nothing he could learn being a backup to Lamar Jackson in Baltimore.
There is some logic to Deion’s comments that fans and analysts tend to dramatically overrate the idea of a player, particularly a quarterback, sitting behind an established superstar and learning before they get into games.
If Shedeur had wound up with the Ravens, there was no chance of him getting on the field unless Jackson suffered an injury.
However, Sanders is currently lower on the quarterback depth chart in Cleveland than he likely would have been in Baltimore. Cooper Rush is currently listed as the No. 2 on the Ravens’ depth chart.
Sanders, the 144th overall pick in the 2025 draft, is behind Joe Flacco and fellow rookie Dillon Gabriel on the Browns’ official depth chart.
The path to playing time with Flacco and Gabriel ahead of him is presumably shorter than it would be in Baltimore, but the fact that Gabriel beat him out for the backup job in the preseason could be an indication he still has a lot of work to do.
Ultimately, Sanders got what he wanted by avoiding a situation with a long-term established starter in place.
If Sanders gets on the field at some point this season and shows some of the talent that had some analysts regarding him as a first-round prospect, he could potentially enter 2026 competing to be the Cleveland’s starting quarterback.
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