Shedeur Sanders Makes Browns' Roster for 2025 NFL Season After Kenny Pickett Trade

With a crowded quarterback room after the draft, there were questions about whether Shedeur Sanders would be on the Cleveland Browns' roster by the start of the season.

Now, the fifth-round pick has officially secured his spot on the team's Week 1 roster, the team announced on Tuesday. Head coach Kevin Stefanski announced Sanders will be the third-string quarterback behind Joe Flacco and Dillon Gabriel.

The news comes one day after the Browns traded Kenny Pickett to the Las Vegas Raiders.

Following his final season at Colorado, Sanders seemed like a lock to be a first-round pick and potentially even be a starter in his first season, but things changed quickly in the weeks leading up to the draft.

Rather than being considered for the No. 1 overall pick, Sanders' status as a first-round draft pick was in question heading into draft night. The first round passed and Sanders wasn't selected, setting up what would be a historic slide.

Ultimately, the Browns picked him up in the fifth round after already drafting quarterback Dillon Gabriel out of Oregon. The fall in the draft was puzzling, to say the least, but reports after the draft cleared the air a bit.

The Colorado product reportedly conducted himself in interviews with teams in a way that rubbed front offices the wrong way. That meant, despite his talent, teams wanted nothing to do with him on draft night.

Now, Sanders is looking to put the draft process behind him and focus on the future ahead with the Browns. Sanders has plenty of potential and an impressive collegiate resume heading into his rookie year. In his final season at Colorado, he threw for 4,134 yards and 37 touchdowns.

He put together a decent preseason, throwing for 152 yards and a pair of touchdowns on 17-of-29 passing with no interceptions in three games.

Sanders' next task will be claiming a starting role for the Browns. Cleveland named Flacco its Week 1 starter, but it's realistic to think either Sanders or Gabriel could take that job from him at some point this season if things aren't going well.