Shedeur Sanders Welcomed to Browns by Njoku and Ward, 'Let Em All Hate Fam'

Cleveland Browns tight end David Njoku and cornerback Denzel Ward are eager for new teammate Shedeur Sanders to silence his skeptics after the Colorado quarterback had a precipitous fall in the 2025 NFL draft.

Njoku and Ward both shared messages to Sanders on social media after the Browns picked him in the fifth round:

Sanders was pegged by some as a first-round prospect with the potential to slip into the second. He was the No. 23 overall player and second-best quarterback on Bleacher Report's final big board.

Nobody had the Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award lasting all the way to the draft's third day. Cleveland even took another QB ahead of him, selecting Oregon's Dillon Gabriel in the third round.

As The Athletic's Jeff Howe laid out, NFL teams simply didn't view Sanders as a special talent, and his sizable off-field profile was a consideration when looking at his suitability as a backup.

"Once it got to a point where it felt like it was a pretty steep discount, we just felt like, especially relative to the alternative ways that we could use this selection, this made the most sense," Browns general manager Andrew Berry said of taking Sanders.

What made obvious sense for Cleveland may not work as well for Shedeur, though. He joins a crowded quarterback room, one in which he might struggle to get the practice reps necessary to stand out.

Granted, that was basically true with anywhere else he landed. No team expects a fifth-round pick to come in and immediately start.

If nothing else, it looks like Sanders has the support of the Browns' locker room as he prepares for his first offseason as an NFL player.