On “Good Morning Football,” Super Bowl champion and NFL analyst Isaiah Stanback proclaimed the Cleveland Browns can’t afford to pass on Colorado Buffaloes quarterback Shedeur Sanders in the upcoming 2025 NFL Draft.
Is Shedeur Sanders a Can’t-Miss Prospect for the Browns?
The jury is still out on where Sanders will end up. Some mock drafts have him going as high as No. 2 to the Browns; others have him dropping as low No. 21 to the Pittsburgh Steelers.
A handful of draft experts believe he’s a second-round talent who’s benefited from a weak QB crop. The demand for Sanders surged before free agency, but as the dominoes fell and the QB carousel slowed, the urgency to pick Sanders isn’t as pressing.
Though Mel Kiper asserted that Shedeur Sanders will be better than Cam Ward, the consensus No. 1 QB in the class, most analysts have Sanders rated closer to Ole Miss playmaker Jaxson Dart.
On “The Skip Bayless Show,” Deion Sanders acknowledged he’d be OK with his son getting drafted by five teams: the Browns, New York Giants, Tennessee Titans, Las Vegas Raiders or New Orleans Saints. In that same interview, he also said Shedeur slipping to the Steelers would be a “blessing.”
NFL insider Adam Schefter reported rumors that the Browns will pass on Shedeur Sanders and are “leaning toward” taking Penn State defensive end Abdul Carter.
After the Giants signed free agents Jameis Winston and Russell Wilson—and with the asking price for trading up to the No. 1 spot to take Cam Ward being too high—the team’s urge to select Sanders has cooled.
Peter Schrager explained why Sanders to the Giants isn’t a sure thing at No. 3 overall, noting, “If Abdul Carter or Travis Hunter is higher on their board, (signing Winston and Wilson) gives them the luxury that they don’t have to take Shedeur Sanders.”
If Shedeur Sanders is there at 3, are the Giants set on taking him?
"Not so fast." — @PSchrags goes through why Sanders to the Giants is by no means a slam dunk yet. pic.twitter.com/QWNpmx73ES
— Good Morning Football (@gmfb) March 27, 2025
Isaiah Stanback on Why Browns Can’t Afford to Pass on Shedeur Sanders
“Good Morning Football” recurring guest Isaiah Stanback defended his position that the Browns would be ill-advised to let Sanders slip, arguing, “(The Browns) don’t have enough at the quarterback position… When you’re looking to rebuild an organization, there is no better quarterback in this year’s draft to build an organization around, who has experience building up programs that aren’t doing well, than Shedeur Sanders.”
Stanback went on to note, “He was at Jackson State—what did he do? He built that program up. Took them from nothing, made them something… Then he and his dad go to Colorado, built up Colorado from a non-winning organization and built them up to where they’re respectable.”
Can the Cleveland Browns afford to pass on Shedeur Sanders?🤔@IamSTANBACK thinks Shedeur is a much needed piece for the Browns pic.twitter.com/2ZzzewxlNx
— Good Morning Football (@gmfb) March 28, 2025
The Cleveland Browns’ QB Quagmire
With Deshaun Watson eating up a ton of cap space and looking like he’ll miss the entire 2025 season due to a setback rehabbing his torn Achilles, the Browns only have Kenny Pickett as a healthy option. Selecting Sanders would create competition for Pickett and valuable insurance should Pickett get hurt or falter. Watson and Pickett are both due to become free agents after the 2026 season.
Browns fans have been down this bumpy road of first-round quarterbacks before. In 1999, the team took Kentucky All-American QB Tim Couch with the first overall pick. In 2007, they selected Notre Dame’s Maxwell Award-winning QB Brady Quinn with the 22nd pick. They used that same pick (No. 22) in 2012 to draft Oklahoma State’s 28-year-old QB Brandon Weeden, and in 2014 to take Texas A&M’s Heisman winner Johnny Manziel.
The last quarterback Cleveland took in the first round was Heisman winner Baker Mayfield in 2018. Mayfield had an outstanding rookie year and led the team to its first playoff appearance since 2002—and their first playoff win since 1994 (against AFC North rival Pittsburgh, no less). Cleveland traded him to the Carolina Panthers for a fifth-round pick, only to watch him go to back-to-back Pro Bowls with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Will Shedeur Sanders be more Baker Mayfield or Johnny Manziel? Can the Browns afford to not explore his potential? It’s possible, considering the top college quarterback prospects in the 2026 NFL Draft: Texas’ Arch Manning, Tennessee’s Nico Iamaleava, and Penn State’s Drew Allar.
Isaiah Stanback’s endorsement of Shedeur Sanders for the Browns captures the excitement surrounding the young quarterback’s future in the NFL. As Stanback mentioned, only time will tell if Sanders can build up an organization and carry a team—without his father, Deion.