The Cleveland Browns drafted Shedeur Sanders in the fifth round of the 2025 NFL Draft, and now he’s competing to become the team’s starting quarterback.
The Browns will have a four-way QB battle, as Sanders is going head-to-head with third-round rookie Dillon Gabriel and veterans Joe Flacco and Kenny Pickett (with Deshaun Watson expected to miss the entire 2025 season due to a ruptured Achilles).
Recently, two-time Super Bowl champion LeSean McCoy weighed in on the positive reports coming out about Sanders and made a bold comparison.
LeSean McCoy Compares Shedeur Sanders to Tom Brady
On Monday, May 26, McCoy boldly compared Sanders to seven-time Super Bowl champion Tom Brady, while also giving a massive prediction of the starting quarterback for the Browns.
“You’ve seen his work ethic. Everything that we heard about him is not true. Don’t let the jewelry and the music and the swagger fool you. He’s a hard worker,” McCoy said. “The first thing that the head coach said: ‘Hey, he’s the first one in the building and the last to leave.’ Sounds like someone else I know — his name is [Tom] Brady! You know what I’m saying?”
“The thing I love most about Shedeur is that he seems way more focused, and he’s like, ‘I’m here and I ain’t here to be anybody’s backup.’ I think he’s going to be starting in the first five games. First five games, maybe six games, he’s going to be the starter.”
“He’s the 1st in the building, last to leave. Sounds like someone I know: Tom Brady.”@CutOnDime25 on why it’s time for the QB1 talk with Shedeur Sanders pic.twitter.com/QR2YsSbvv4
— The Facility (@TheFacilityFS1) May 26, 2025
The positive reports about Sanders’ work ethic are great signs for success. The Browns have started 40 quarterbacks since the organization’s revival in 1999, so the organization desperately wants to find a long-term solution under center. The Browns’ offense ranked dead last in PFSN’s Offense+ metric with a 56 (F) grade last season, but the hope is that this unit can make significant strides in 2025.
Sanders is going to have a bit of an uphill battle entering training camp since the Browns drafted Gabriel well ahead of him, signed a veteran quarterback in Flacco who already knows the system, and traded away draft capital for Pickett this offseason. Sanders seems to be leaning on the quarterbacks he is competing with and trying to learn from each of them, which is the right approach and should help the QB room as a whole.
It remains to be seen if Sanders can win the starting quarterback job or if he’ll start his rookie year holding a clipboard, but it’s clear that he’s making a strong first impression with his work ethic behind the scenes. If he’s carrying himself like the GOAT and already drawing some comparisons to Brady’s work ethic, clearly he’s doing something right.
