NFL Insider Says Browns Feel Shedeur Sanders 'Should be Humbled by His Draft' Slide

The Cleveland Browns are hopeful Shedeur Sanders received a wake-up call when he fell to the fifth round of the 2025 NFL draft.

The Athletic's Zak Jackson reported Monday the Browns "feel like they're getting a prospect with intriguing traits who should be humbled by his draft weekend wait."

On Sunday, Mary Kay Cabot of Cleveland.com detailed the process that led the team to prefer Dillon Gabriel over Sanders.

According to Cabot, Sanders "liked the Browns from the jump, and brought the best version of himself to the table," so there weren't any concerns about his attitude. Instead, the Browns just liked Gabriel more as a prospect thanks to his experience in multiple offenses and tendency to have fewer "negative plays."

Appearing on the Awful Announcing Podcast, ESPN's Matt Miller suggested Sanders and his representatives badly misread how he was being evaluated by teams.

"So I think for the Sanders camp, they had this perception of Shedeur as a lock two or three draft pick," Miller said. "And they approached the process that way. There was never anyone from the outside that could get through to him and say, 'Wait a second, he's not guaranteed to be a two or three draft pick.' And the fact that you are approaching the process that way is hurting him."

Sanders said the right things in his first media call after the Browns picked him. General manager Andrew Berry also told reporters the team is confident he will "come in here and work and compete."

There isn't much alternative for the Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award winner.

Fifth-round picks have little in the way of guarantees moving forward, and that doesn't change for Sanders just because he's the son of a Hall of Famer.

Cabot said he'll open the offseason behind Gabriel in the depth chart, which will put him lower than Kenny Pickett and Joe Flacco as well. The onus is on the 23-year-old to justify why he deserves a roster spot and can be a starting-caliber QB in the future.