Shedeur Sanders finished his first season in the NFL with three wins out of seven games. The fifth-round quarterback started the season as the No. 3 quarterback for the Cleveland Browns, but ended up as the starter after Joe Flacco was traded and Dillon Gabriel was benched.
Joe Flacco Highlights Trait That Could Make Shedeur Sanders ‘Successful’ In NFL
Flacco, who’s 41, was around the quarterback for a few months. The pair was together through the offseason and the first four weeks of the regular season, until the veteran was benched and later traded to the Cincinnati Bengals after Joe Burrow’s injury. As such, he got to see closely how Sanders works.
During his appearance on “Up & Adams Show” on Monday, Kay Adams asked Flacco about the work done behind the scenes by the young quarterback that people don’t get to see. And the veteran passer didn’t hesitate to mention Sanders’ confidence:
[0:18] “He’s very confident in who he is. And I think that’s what serves him. As a young player, you have to have that unwavering belief in yourself. […] I could see it right away, with the belief that he had in himself, just that ‘gamer’ type of mentality, that he was going to have the right mindset to be successful in this league.”
Joe Flacco on what will serve Shedeur Sanders well throughout his NFL career:@JoeFlacco | @heykayadams pic.twitter.com/7l4Zox8kkh
— Up & Adams (@UpAndAdamsShow) February 2, 2026
In many ways, the confidence displayed by Sanders was confused as arrogance in many NFL circles. His fall until the fifth round of the 2025 NFL Draft was one of the biggest stories of the year. Initially, the former Colorado passer was expected to be a first-round pick; he ended up falling to pick No. 144.
The Cleveland Browns seemed to have no concise plan for the quarterback position. After taking Dillon Gabriel in the third round of the draft, the Browns doubled down on the position with Sanders. Neither looked like a franchise quarterback; Sanders had 7 touchdowns and 10 interceptions as a rookie, while Gabriel completed just 59.5% of his passes.
The strategy with Flacco also didn’t work. The Browns signed him with the aim of having the veteran repeat his 2023 performances. He struggled early and was benched in favor of Gabriel; more surprisingly, he was traded to the Cincinnati Bengals in a rare intra-division deal.
Our PFSN QB Impact Metric was not a fan of the trio. Joe Flacco was the best ranked at No. 36 with a 67.1 impact score, while Sanders appeared at No. 46 and Gabriel was No. 47. Needless to say, the Browns need better answers at the quarterback position.
Curiously, Sanders earned a Pro Bowl nod despite his disappointing performances, while Drake Maye, a Super Bowl quarterback, was unable to attend. The NFL World reacted with shock.
