Shedeur Sanders has been the underdog ever since he left the University of Colorado.
Expected to be a first-round pick in the 205 draft, Sanders fell to the Cleveland Browns in fifth round, where he was expected to spend his rookie season as the third-stringer behind Joe Flacco and third-round pick Dillon Gabriel.
Sanders outlasted both of them last year and ended the year as Cleveland’s starter.
Heading into his second NFL offseason, Sanders again faced adversity when it was reported Deshaun Watson held the edge over him heading into OTAs to win the Browns’ QB1 job.
But according to Browns insider Mary Kay Cabot of Cleveland.com, that’s no longer the case as the team ended its mandatory minicamp last week.
“By the end of that minicamp and through the first few weeks of OTAs, Watson was taking most of the first-team reps in practice, and trending towards being named QB1, at least on Monken’s depth chart for training camp,” Cabot wrote. “But Sanders…worked overtime on the pre-snap responsibilities and decision-making, and began to release the ball quicker.
“He got the Browns out of bad situations and into good ones, and came bolting up the steep learning curve. Over the last two weeks, the messaging around Sanders changed drastically, and a paradigm shift had taken place in the competition: suddenly, he had caught Watson from behind to make it a tight race heading into camp, and even seized the momentum during mandatory minicamp this week.”
Sanders has been getting rave reviews from both head coach Todd Monken and general manager Andrew Berry for the growth he’s shown this offseason.
The 24-year-old QB is being applauded for taking a difficult situation — a new head coach, a new offensive coordinator, a new offensive system, competition from a $230 million QB — and coming out the other side better from a skillset standpoint and more mature.
“He’s being more decisive,” Monken said. “It’s easy to say we’re not in pads (but) it just feels like he’s making quicker decisions. The ball’s coming out of his hands, which he’s going to have to do…his ability to process quicker and get the ball out of his hands and eliminate lost yardage plays is going to be huge for us to be able to stack plays and score, which is ultimately the No. 1 thing here.”
Added Berry in an interview with 92.3 The Fan: “His growth has been tremendous, so we’re all really excited to see Shedeur’s fall camp, preseason… when we get into live situations that are less scripted. His growth has really been phenomenal.”
If Sanders and Watson are truly neck-and-neck heading into training camp at the end of next month, there’s a real chance the second-year QB could start the year as the starter.
Watson hasn’t taken a snap since Oct. 20, 2024, and Sanders, who came on strong at the end of last year, is fresher, has less wear and tear, and arguably has more to prove by winning the job.
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