Cleveland Browns end Sanders’ long NFL draft slide
LOS ANGELES, United States (AFP) — University of Colorado quarterback Shedeur Sanders, son of former Dallas Cowboys great Deion Sanders, finally got his NFL call on Saturday after a stunning slide in the NFL draft.
The Cleveland Browns selected Sanders with the 144th overall pick in Saturday’s fifth round of the draft — a shocking turn of events for a player who had been widely tipped to go in the first round on Thursday.
“Thank you GOD” Sanders wrote on X, with video on live-streaming platform Twitch showing him celebrating with ecstatic family and friends gathered in Texas as the draft unfolded in Green Bay, Wisconsin.
The Tennessee Titans made University of Miami quarterback Cam Ward, the number one overall pick, but he was one of just two quarterbacks taken in the first round of the annual allocation of NFL rights for top college talent.
Jaxson Dart was also taken in the first round, and three more collegiate signal-callers were taken on Friday — arguably none with as strong of a resume as Sanders, who was the Big 12 conference’s Offensive Player of the Year.
The Browns had taken quarterback Dillon Gabriel in the third round on Friday, but traded two picks to Seattle for the 144th selection and the chance to nab Sanders.
“We felt like he was a good, solid prospect at the most important position,” Browns general manager Andrew Berry said of the selection. “We felt it got to a point where he was probably mis-priced relative to the draft.”
After the attention Sanders received in the run-up the draft, pundits were buzzing over the possible reasons teams declined to select him — a surprise that even caught the attention of US President Donald Trump.
“What is wrong with NFL owners, are they STUPID?” Trump asked in a Truth Social post before the second round of the draft began on Friday.
Some wondered whether Sanders’s level of celebrity even before reaching the NFL had put off some teams, or whether they were wary of how he would develop when he was no longer being coached by his famous, and famously out-spoken, father.
“Obviously Shedeur has kind of grown up in the spotlight, but our expectation is for him to come in here and work and compete,” Berry said.
