For months leading up to the 2025 NFL Draft, Shedeur Sanders was expected to be a top-10 pick. His blend of talent and football IQ had scouts buzzing, plus he has Hall-of-Fame genes since he’s the son of NFL legend Deion Sanders.
But as the draft process unfolded, Sanders’ draft stock began to dip. His demeanor in pre-draft interviews was criticized, with teams viewing him as brash and arrogant. By the time the dust settled, Sanders fell to Day 3 of the draft, where the Cleveland Browns scooped him up as a developmental project with considerable upside.
Shedeur Sanders Owns Up to Mistakes, Looks Forward to Fresh Start with Cleveland Browns
Now, with rookie minicamp around the corner, Sanders is reflecting on the rollercoaster ride that brought him to Cleveland. In a brutally honest moment, the Browns’ new quarterback opened up about how he handled the predraft process — and admitted he wishes he had approached parts of it differently.
Despite the whirlwind surrounding his draft slide, Sanders is trying to focus on the positives. Hours after he heard his name called by the Browns, Sanders was on a conference call with the media.
“I’m extremely grateful for the opportunity throughout everything,” Sanders said. “I don’t ever focus on a negative or even think about the negative because the positive happened so fast.”
When asked directly whether he had any regrets about how he handled the months leading up to the draft, Sanders didn’t dodge the question.
“I feel like in life, there’s always a way I can improve. I’m able to improve,” Sanders said. “And some things that I [did] that seemed right at the time, I could’ve went about it a different way.”
That level of self-awareness may be exactly what Sanders needs to win over a Browns locker room filled with veterans who have seen plenty of young quarterbacks come and go. Sanders emphasized that he understands the importance of earning respect from day one.
“I know I’m going to fit in perfectly,” Sanders said. “I feel like first thing getting in is showing respect to the vets. I’m getting ready to work and show the coaches, have them understand I’m ready to work, actually understand the real me.”
Sanders didn’t elaborate on what he could have done differently, but he previously admitted that he was interviewing executives just as much as they were interviewing him during his team visits, and that didn’t sit well with everyone.
“When I go visit these coaches and when I go to all these different franchises, I ask them truly what I think and how I feel,” Sanders said before the draft. “Some get offended, some like it, some don’t. [I] make some people uncomfortable, some people invite that.”
There were also rumors that Sanders didn’t give his all during interviews with teams that were picking outside of the top 10, which came back to bite him once his draft freefall started.
Prior to the draft, The Ringer’s Todd McShay revealed that Sanders’ interview with the New York Giants didn’t go well, which helps explain why the team selected Ole Miss QB Jaxson Dart over him.
“I’ve heard from two different sources that his visit with head coach Brian Daboll did not go particularly well. The friction centered on some frustration between the two regarding Sanders’ preparation of an install package,” McShay said. “It seems the interview process as a whole — beginning in Indianapolis, as I reported a few days after the Combine — has negatively affected the leaguewide perception of Sanders during the lead-up to this year’s draft.”
McShay elaborated on this during an episode of his podcast “The McShay Show.”
“Shedeur didn’t have a great interview with Brian Daboll in a private visit. An install package came in, the preparation wasn’t there for it. [Shedeur] got called out on it, didn’t like that. Brian didn’t appreciate him not liking it. … The interviews did not go well,” he said.
With the draft process over, Sanders can focus on realizing his full potential with the Browns and becoming the team’s quarterback of the future. Sanders is thankful to have a fresh start in Cleveland and a chance to prove his doubters wrong.
“I’m truly thankful for the opportunity for people to actually see the real me and not be able to see stuff that could be true or not,” Sanders said.
With veteran Joe Flacco in the QB room, the Browns aren’t asking Sanders to be a savior overnight. But if his early mindset is any indication, perhaps they landed a steal. Credit to Sanders for saying all of the right things, and now all eyes will be on him to see if he can outperform his fifth-round draft slot.