Stefanski in a recent interview was complimentary of the Browns’ fifth round draft selection without giving away too much about how the team’s quarterback competition might play out over the next few months. “None of these guys are finished products, and Shedeur certainly has things he can work on,” Stefanski said, adding Sanders is unbothered by his slide in the 2025 NFL Draft. “But in terms of the person, in terms of the kid who’s willing to work, I think that’s who we’re getting. ... We’re getting a guy that really is not so concerned about where he landed in this draft, but he is willing to put in the work and that’s what we’re going to do.” Sanders will compete for the Browns’ Week 1 starting job with Joe Flacco, Kenny Pickett, and Dillon Gabriel, who last week took reps ahead of Sanders during Cleveland’s rookie minicamp.

If the season started tomorrow, in Kay Cabot’s estimation, the starter would be Kenny Pickett. She says that the Browns made clear to Pickett that he “could control his own destiny with a stellar performance” when they traded Dorian Thompson-Robinson and a fifth-round pick to the Eagles. This, of course, does not mean that Sanders can’t make the Browns. Neither of the other three quarterbacks in the room have any recent NFL success to hang their hat on — the closest thing is Joe Flacco’s performance in 2023 with the Browns. But it does mean that he’s starting at the bottom of the pack.

The draft slide heard around the world ended when the Browns traded up to select Sanders with the No. 144 overall pick in the draft. While there have been multiple attempts to justify and/or criticize the slide, Breer touches on two instances that took place between Sanders and evaluators during the pre-draft process that may have worked against him. The first was an interception a team replayed for him in Indianapolis that Sanders “didn’t take blame for.” Breer goes on to say that “as they dove deeper into it, and how it might relate to the NFL level, Sanders simply concluded that he and the staff he was talking to might not be a match.” In another visit, Breer reports Sanders didn’t pick up on intentionally planted mistakes in an install, and when called on it “the resulting exchange wasn’t pretty.” Regardless of why he fell, Sanders is now a Day 3 pick who will need to impress in more ways than one as he looks to carve out his path in the NFL.