Shedeur Sanders had to wait until the final day of the 2025 NFL Draft to hear his name called. The former Colorado Buffaloes quarterback entered the 2024 season as a consensus top-three pick but endured a historic slide in this year’s draft. The Cleveland Browns finally scooped him up in the fifth round.
Sanders joins a crowded and experienced quarterback room in Cleveland. But one NFL analyst offered a bold take on the rookie’s upside.
NFL Analyst Rates Shedeur Sanders Better Than Other QBs in the Browns’ Locker Room
The Browns selected Sanders with the No. 144 overall pick in the fifth round of the 2025 NFL Draft. That spot hardly reflects his production — 4,134 passing yards and 37 touchdowns on a 74% completion rate for Colorado in 2024.
Cleveland now has five quarterbacks on the roster: Deshaun Watson, Joe Flacco, Kenny Pickett, Dillon Gabriel and Sanders. With Watson still recovering from an Achilles injury, Flacco is expected to start Week 1, with Pickett as the backup. Gabriel and Sanders are battling for the third spot.
NFL analyst Colin Cowherd has a very different take on the situation. On a recent episode of his show, “The Herd,” Cowherd compared the Browns drafting Sanders to the accidental invention of Post-it Notes.
“But the point being is, they stumbled into wild success. And I think that’s what the Cleveland Browns have done. The coach and the GM didn’t wanna draft Shedeur Sanders, and they did it in the fifth round, two rounds after Dillon Gabriel, and he’s crushing it. He is their best quarterback in camp,” Cowherd said.
Cowherd acknowledged that Sanders is working with backups, but pointed out that he’s also throwing to them.
“Sometimes you stumble into success. It’s not a straight line, it’s not linear. Brady with the Patriots, Brock Purdy to the Niners, Kurt Warner to the Rams, it isn’t always a straight line,” he said.
He added that Gabriel is getting most of the first-team reps simply because he was drafted two rounds earlier than Sanders. But Sanders is getting his share of reps, too.
“The coaching staff cannot deny what’s happening,” Cowherd said. “Let’s forget Flacco for a second, he’ll probably start, and Kenny Pickett is not the future. Let’s concentrate on the two kids. Shedeur Sanders is 34 of 44, nine touchdowns, one pick. The most accurate quarterback easily in camp, 77%.”
“The coaching staff cannot deny what’s happening.”@colincowherd says the Browns stumbled into a QB solution when they drafted Shedeur Sanders. pic.twitter.com/dQ3cOwhgwW
— Herd w/Colin Cowherd (@TheHerd) June 12, 2025
“Dillon Gabriel is the least of the four accurate quarterbacks, 54%. Okay, so I’m sorry they are all throwing to the same guys, same protection, same coaching staff.”
Cowherd pointed out that Sanders and Gabriel had very different paths in college. Sanders played at Colorado with Travis Hunter and a supporting cast of mostly non-NFL talent, while Gabriel transitioned from Oklahoma to Oregon — two powerhouse programs stacked with talent.
Sanders signed his rookie contract with the Browns on May 20. The deal is worth $4.6 million over four years and includes a $447,380 signing bonus.
It is too early to judge any of the Brown’s QBs. They are not playing football yet. The GM and coaches are looking at players to see how they fit. They are asking themselves, are people learning the new play book, do they fit the game the coach is looking for and are the getting along and jelling as a team. This last one is particularly important with the rookies. They know the veterans who are going to be there in September and they want to make sure that the rookies have a good rapport with these guys. When the pads go on they will be looking hard at the football skills, something everyone on the field has but the true test occurs when they are under pressure will those skills hold up.