Shedeur Sanders’ fall in the 2025 NFL Draft has possibly caused the media to follow him even closer than they would have if he went in the top 10. The Cleveland Browns may have gotten the steal of the draft with their fifth round draft pick of Sanders.
However, fans are noticing a particularly rough start to his career.
“Oh My God” Shedeur Sanders’ First Pass At Browns Practice Goes Horribly Wrong
Cleveland Browns rookie minicamp kicked off today, giving them a chance to see quarterback Shedeur Sanders for the first time:
The biggest storyline of the 2025 NFL Draft was Shedeur Sanders’ stunning fall into the fifth round. He was expected to be a top-10 pick, but the Colorado product had to wait until day three to be selected, with the Browns taking him at No. 144 overall.
It was a mild surprise when the Browns took Sanders, too, since they had used their third-round selection on Oregon QB Dillon Gabriel. And so, the Browns open the offseason with the two rookies, Joe Flacco and Kenny Pickett on their QB depth chart as Deshaun Watson continues to recover from a torn Achilles.
Several clips of Sanders’ first practice session with the Browns were posted on social media. You can’t read too much into one pass attempt, but a polarizing product like Sanders already has fans buzzing after missing terribly on his first minicamp throw:
Yikes: Shedeur Sanders’ first pass for the Browns during team period was NOT pretty…😬😳
(via @StainbrookNFL) pic.twitter.com/YZJigpFrwh
— Dov Kleiman (@NFL_DovKleiman) May 9, 2025
At the start of the new year, Sanders was viewed as a top candidate to go first overall. But his draft stock began to fall after the Scouting Combine, with some anonymous NFL coaches and executives complaining about his performance in team interviews.
Still, it was widely assumed that he would be an early first-round pick, with some scouts and analysts projecting that Shedeur Sanders would go as high as third overall to the New York Giants.
At the end of the day, it’s on Sanders to write his own NFL story, and his draft fall doesn’t at all mean he’s going to have a disappointing career. He just has to look at legends like Tom Brady (a sixth-round pick), Joe Montana (a third-round pick) and Kurt Warner (undrafted) for inspiration, after all.
Here is how Sanders performed in college:
| Year | Team | Games | Passing | Rushing | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GP | GS | Record | Comp | Att | Pct | Yards | Avg | TD | Int | Rate | Att | Yards | Avg | TD | |||
| 2021 | Jackson State | 13 | 13 | 11−2 | 272 | 413 | 65.9 | 3,231 | 7.8 | 30 | 8 | 151.7 | 103 | −17 | −0.2 | 3 | |
| 2022 | Jackson State | 13 | 13 | 12−1 | 341 | 483 | 70.6 | 3,732 | 7.7 | 40 | 6 | 160.4 | 85 | 173 | 2.0 | 6 | |
| 2023 | Colorado | 11 | 11 | 4−7 | 298 | 430 | 69.3 | 3,230 | 7.5 | 27 | 3 | 151.7 | 111 | −77 | −0.7 | 4 | |
| 2024 | Colorado | 13 | 13 | 9−4 | 353 | 477 | 74.0 | 4,134 | 8.7 | 37 | 10 | 168.2 | 100 | −50 | −0.5 | 4 | |
| Career[32] | 50 | 50 | 36−14 | 1,263 | 1,803 | 70.1 | 14,327 | 7.9 | 134 | 27 | 158.4 | 399 | 29 | 0.1 | 17 | ||
