Sportsnaut
Leading up to the 2025 NFL Draft, Shedeur Sanders was being talked about as a potential first-round pick. With so many QB-needy teams, such as the Cleveland Browns, New Orleans Saints, Pittsburgh Steelers, and more, it appeared that Sanders could not only wind up as a first-round selection, but he could even land in the top 20 picks.
Of course, Sanders didn’t go in the first round. Surprisingly, he didn’t go in the second round or, shockingly even the third round either. When he fell to the fourth, it became the biggest talking point of draft weekend.
The Browns finally ended his freefall by trading up into the fifth round to select Sanders with the 144th overall pick. After the fact, there were plenty of reports that came out, suggesting Sanders didn’t respect the pre-draft process, treating it like he was being recruited instead of being interviewed for the biggest job of his life.
Dickerson goes on to claim that the NFL was basically trying to make an example out of Sanders. Yet, the Browns seem to have foiled the league’s plans.
While he didn’t reveal his source (people usually don’t), Dickerson claims someone even went as far as to reach out to the Browns to persuade them to select Sanders against the NFL’s wishes. Previous claims suggested the Browns’ ownership, led by the Haslam group, may have even interfered, but again, Dickerson wouldn’t reveal his source.
“I won’t say who — somebody called the Cleveland Browns and said, ‘Don’t do that, draft him,’” Dickerson said. “Because they weren’t going to draft him, either. . . .They were forced into drafting him, because somebody made a call to them. He was not gonna get drafted, to basically show you this is what happens when you do this. When I say it came from a good source, I say it came from a very, very good source.”
Now the Browns have a quarterback whose stock has been on the upward swing from the moment he was selected with the 144th overall pick. We have a feeling they don’t have any regrets.
Related: Cleveland Browns Pushed to Trade QB for Meager Return
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