A year ago, Shedeur Sanders was the most discussed name on draft weekend for all the wrong reasons. Today he is the most discussed name in the Cleveland Browns quarterback room for all the right ones.
Sanders, 24, met with reporters after a Browns minicamp practice on Tuesday and delivered a message that was equal parts gratitude and quiet confidence. Asked to reflect on the past 12 months, he expressed deep thankfulness repeatedly and showed little interest in relitigating the draft drama that defined his entry into the league.
He said he was grateful for how everything unfolded and refused to view any part of it as a setback.
His father, Deion Sanders, was not far behind. The Hall of Fame cornerback amplified his son’s now-viral bulletproof comment on social media with a response that reminded everyone of the family’s signature defiance, noting that this was a Sanders they were dealing with.
From fifth round to first-team reps
The backdrop to all of this is worth remembering. Sanders entered the 2025 NFL Draft projected as a first-round talent after starring at Jackson State and Colorado. What followed was one of the more surprising falls in recent draft history. Teams passed on him through Day 1 and Day 2. A prank call from the son of an Atlanta Falcons coach, in which the caller posed as a Saints executive claiming Sanders was about to be selected, added a surreal dimension to an already strange night. He was eventually taken by the Browns with the 144th overall pick, and he was not even the first quarterback Cleveland selected.
The early months in Cleveland did little to ease the transition. Under former head coach Kevin Stefanski, Sanders spent much of the 2025 season fourth on the depth chart behind Joe Flacco, Kenny Pickett, and Dillon Gabriel. He received no first-team reps. His opportunity came in Week 11 when Gabriel suffered a concussion, and Sanders stepped in having had almost no preparation with the starting unit.
He finished out the season under center, throwing for 1,400 yards and seven touchdowns against 10 interceptions across seven starts, going 3-4. It was enough to earn him a Pro Bowl replacement nod, and enough to make the Browns take notice.
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A new coach, a new dynamic
The Browns fired Stefanski after a 5-12 season and hired Todd Monken, the former Baltimore Ravens offensive coordinator, to replace him. The effect on Sanders has been visible almost immediately.
At Tuesday’s minicamp, Sanders took the most first-team reps among the Browns quarterback room, rotating with Deshaun Watson while Dillon Gabriel also competed for the role. It was a stark contrast to a year ago, when Sanders was an afterthought in the depth chart conversation.
Monken has framed the quarterback competition as genuinely open, with no position locked in heading into the summer. But the early signs have been noted.
Sanders was direct about what the coaching change has meant for him personally. Without naming Stefanski, he drew a clear contrast between the two environments, crediting Monken and his staff for believing in him and adapting their communication style to suit how he learns. He pointed out that the problem may not always be a player’s ability to learn, but rather a coach’s ability to communicate effectively with that player. He expressed genuine appreciation for how embracing his current coaches have been.
Watson, experience, and an open competition
Deshaun Watson remains part of the picture. Now fully healthy after a lengthy recovery, Watson brings 72 games of NFL experience to a competition that Sanders is treating as a resource rather than a rivalry.
Sanders acknowledged Watson’s impressive career accomplishments and said he has no hesitation in turning to him with questions when they arise.
Watson has the experience edge. Sanders, by most accounts, has the momentum. Browns owner Jimmy Haslam noted during the recent NFL owners meetings that Sanders had been in Cleveland for much of the offseason and that his body looked noticeably better. Neither detail is incidental in a quarterback competition.
What Year 2 is really about
Sanders has spent enough time in the public eye to understand how narratives work. He knows the draft story will follow him for as long as he lets it. His approach, whether calculated or genuinely felt, has been to make the story about something else entirely.
He described himself as someone who places enormous value on personal connections and takes those bonds with others very seriously.
That orientation, toward coaches, teammates, and the process of getting better daily, is what Sanders is presenting as the foundation of his second year. The Browns’ 2026 season begins with real questions at quarterback, a position that has been unsettled in Cleveland for years. Sanders is not the presumptive answer yet. But for the first time since he was drafted, he is the one taking the first reps.
That is not nothing. For a player who spent his rookie year waiting for a turn that almost never came, it is closer to everything.
