Shedeur Sanders’ first year in the NFL has been anything but smooth. From a surprising slide on draft night to battling through a four-man quarterback competition, the former Colorado star has had to earn everything the hard way in Cleveland.
Even after winning the starting job, Sanders failed to secure himself as the unquestioned QB heading into next season. However, he did emerge as Cleveland’s best option on the roster, and as he continues to navigate life as a late-round pick, a former Pro Bowl quarterback offered him valuable advice on how to stick and succeed in the NFL.
Former Pro Bowl QB Offers Shedeur Sanders a Blueprint for Success
In a conversation with PFSN, Seattle Seahawks legend and three-time Pro Bowl quarterback Matt Hasselbeck was asked what advice he would give Sanders as a fellow Day 3 pick.
“Use it to fuel you a little bit,” Hasselbeck said. “That’s number one. But number two, like no one cares where you were drafted anymore. Like they don’t care. You know, you might get nine lives, even more opportunities if you were a first-rounder, but that’s over. And I think he does a really good job of sort of feeling like he’s confident and being a playmaker and all that kind of stuff.”
Sanders has clearly used his draft slide as motivation and hasn’t let it derail his development. Hasselbeck, who was selected in the sixth round himself and went on to play 17 NFL seasons, believes the most important lesson he learned early was the ability to listen and adapt.
READ MORE: Super Bowl 60 Predictions: Predicting the Winner, Final Score, MVP, and More
“I think the hardest thing for me as a as a young quarterback was to humble myself and even though I had really good coaching previously in college or other teams, but was to humble myself and really buy into what my new coaches were asking me to do, not what previous coaches asked me to do, but what my current coaches were asking me to do,” Hasselbeck explained.
That message carries extra weight in Cleveland, where the Browns fired Kevin Stefanski after the regular season and hired former Baltimore Ravens offensive coordinator Todd Monken as head coach.
“Even if you don’t think it matters, it matters,” Hasselbeck added. “You need to really humble yourself and buy into whatever they’re preaching.”
Sanders started seven games for the Browns, finishing 3–4 as the starter while throwing for 1,400 yards, 7 touchdowns, and 10 interceptions. He also added a rushing score and ranked 46th in PFSN’s NFL QB Impact Metric. While the numbers were uneven, he flashed high-end traits, particularly his deep-ball ability.
Cleveland still appears to be keeping its options open at quarterback, holding two first-round picks in the 2026 NFL Draft. However, with limited talent beyond Fernando Mendoza, who is widely expected to go No. 1 overall to the Las Vegas Raiders, the Browns’ best path forward may be to surround Sanders with talent they lacked last season.
