Deion Sanders and his family were the center of attention in the 2025 NFL Draft, but perhaps not for the reasons they’d originally anticipated.
Shedeur Sanders fell into the fifth round and now has an uphill battle to earn a spot on an NFL roster, but his father has faith.
Shedeur Sanders’ Fight Could Be the Making of Him
Shedeur Sanders has played for his father his whole life. When he was the quarterback at Trinity Christian High School in Texas, Deion was the offensive coordinator. He’s been coached by his Dad from a young age, which continued into college.
The Cleveland Browns quarterback started all four seasons of his college career. In the first two, he threw 60 touchdowns at Jackson State before the family transferred to Colorado.
With the Buffaloes, Shedeur went on to throw another 62 touchdowns in two seasons, collecting 13,191 career passing yards in his college career.
When he slid into the fifth round of the 2025 NFL draft, the speculation as to why he slipped was through the roof. Some called it character concerns, some said he tanked his meetings with NFL teams, and others simply seemed to think that teams simply didn’t want the distraction of the Sanders family and the media attention they bring with them.
The Colorado QB was the second signal-caller drafted by the Browns, and he’ll now compete with Oregon’s Dillon Gabriel in rookie minicamp. His father now seems to have taken the approach that it was meant to be, with his latest post on ‘X’, reading:
“You’ll soon understand why your timing is perfect and why things had to happen the way it did to guide you to where you were meant to be.”
— COACH PRIME (@DeionSanders) May 4, 2025
Coach Prime could be alluding to his son landing in Cleveland in the way that he did. He’ll now have to fight for the starting quarterback job without his father for the first time in his career, and that challenge could shape him as an NFL player.
Perhaps it’s the adversity that he needs to take his game to the next level, and with the world’s eyes watching his progress, Shedeur has a chance to prove himself to everybody who loves the game.
Shedeur Sanders Competition in Cleveland
Shedeur Sanders was the fifth and final quarterback in the room in Cleveland. Deshaun Watson might be injured, but he does have a $230 million contract to his name. Joe Flacco is a 17-year NFL vet hoping to win the starting job himself, and the Browns traded a fifth-round pick and Dorian Thompson-Robinson for Kenny Pickett earlier this year.
In the draft, the Browns selected experienced Dillon Gabriel in the third round, two rounds before they went back into the quarterback pool for Shedeur.
Cleveland now has more quarterbacks on the roster than any other team in the NFL and will have to cut at least one before the NFL season begins. While a fourth might land on the practice squad, it’s unlikely that any team would carry more than three quarterbacks on the active roster.
Shedeur Sanders will have opportunities to prove himself in rookie minicamp and during the preseason, when he’ll likely see game time for the Browns.