What if the NFL was wrong about Shedeur Sanders?

The Browns' Rookie QB fell further than expected. Will he get his revenge?

Shedeur Sanders sat and watched Tyler Shough, Jalen Milroe, and Dillon Gabriel get selected before him in the 2025 NFL Draft. One thing we’ve learned about Shedeur over the past few years is that he doesn’t lack confidence. If he needed any extra motivation to perform at the next level, he certainly has it now.

A prospect widely regarded as a first-round talent throughout the draft process, Sanders shockingly fell to the fifth round.

The Cleveland Browns selected Shedeur Sanders with the sixth pick in the fifth round, two rounds after drafting Dillon Gabriel out of Oregon. The move raised immediate questions about the Browns' draft strategy. On the surface, it appeared they felt Sanders had dropped too far and was simply too good of a value at that point to pass up. And they may have been right.

Reports surfaced in the early days of the draft that Sanders didn’t have the strongest pre-draft interviews. While the exact details remain unclear, the narrative of entitlement surrounding Sanders seemed to play a role.

There’s a thin line between confidence and arrogance, and while Sanders has always believed in himself, he walked that line throughout his college career. His fall in the draft wasn’t entirely surprising given the rumors leading up to it, but how far he fell certainly shocked many. The media was divided. Some piled on, using his slide as validation, while others came to his defense, calling it a massive mistake by teams that passed on him.

So how could a player with so much hype be so polarizing?

In two seasons at Colorado, Sanders threw for 7,364 yards, 64 touchdowns, and only 13 interceptions. He finished his career with a 71.8% completion rate and averaged 306.8 passing yards per game. Those are not the numbers of a fifth-round quarterback. More importantly, time and time again, Sanders led Colorado back from late-game deficits, showing poise and toughness under pressure. That’s a priceless trait for any quarterback entering the NFL.

Now, armed with motivation, underrated by the league, and placed in a position where he has nothing to lose, Shedeur Sanders has the opportunity to prove every critic wrong and become one of the greatest draft steals in NFL history.