Total Pro Sports
Cameras showed the epic phone call between Shedeur Sanders and the Cleveland Browns after he was finally drafted in round five.
Without a doubt, the top story of the 2025 NFL Draft was Shedeur Sanders’ stunning fall. He was widely expected to be a first-round pick, with some experts and final mock drafts projecting him to be a top-five selection.
At the very worst, Sanders was expected to be an early second-round pick. And yet, the Colorado product and son of Pro Football Hall of Famer Deion Sanders had to wait until round five before the Browns took him with the No. 144 pick.
On Wednesday, the Browns shared a cool behind-the-scenes look of Sanders speaking to general manager Andrew Berry and head coach Kevin Stefanski after his draft wait finally ended:
"Let's get ready to go to work and prove everyone who passed on you wrong"
the moment the phone rang for @ShedeurSanders was one to remember 📞 pic.twitter.com/7ZPXQadnwO
— Cleveland Browns (@Browns) April 30, 2025
Even the Browns’ decision to take Shedeur Sanders in round five was a bit of a surprise, since they used their third-round pick (No. 94 overall) on Oregon quarterback Dillon Gabriel. Few could have guessed that Sanders would land in Cleveland when the club used its two second-round picks on LSU linebacker Carson Schwesinger and Ohio State running back Quinshon Judkins.
Sanders joins a crowded Browns quarterback room featuring Gabriel, 2022 first-round pick and offseason trade acquisition Kenny Pickett, 2023 Comeback Player of the Year Joe Flacco and Deshaun Watson, though the latter could miss all of 2025 recovering from a torn Achilles.
Sanders may be on a crowded Cleveland QB room, but Stefanski should give him every chance to earn the starting job. Pickett is on his third team in as many seasons for a reason, and the 40-year-old Flacco is good for no more than a handful of starts.
Even if Watson is cleared to play at some point in 2025, his awful production thus far should keep him off the field. Add it all up, and Sanders’ path to the starting job in Cleveland doesn’t seem overly complex.
