The Cleveland Browns left the 2025 NFL draft with five quarterbacks on their roster after they decided on the third and final day of the draft to trade up and select Shedeur Sanders, who went from being a first-round lock to slipping all the way to the fifth round. After every team passed up on him several times, the Browns finally pounced, but according to general manager Andrew Berry, it had nothing to do with Sanders' father, Deion Sanders.
Berry and Deion have formed a personal relationship in recent years, due in large part to the team's work when scouting Shedeur. Cleveland finally opted to snatch Shedeur with the No. 144 pick in the fifth round, despite the fact they had already selected another quarterback, Dillon Gabriel, back in the third round. After the draft, Berry disagreed with the notion that Deion played a role in his decision to select Shedeur.
“I can’t say if that was a factor or not for other teams, but that was not a significant factor for us,” Berry said when discussing the Browns' decision to draft Shedeur.
Shedeur Sanders looking to prove doubters wrong after sliding to Browns
For much of the pre-draft process, Sanders was viewed as the No. 2 quarterback in the draft class behind Cam Ward, who got selected by the Tennessee Titans with the No. 1 overall pick. Instead, Sanders took a massive tumble down the board, with several other quarterbacks getting selected ahead of him in the process. Eventually, the Browns decided the value in using a Day 3 pick on Sanders was too good to pass up.
Now, Cleveland will have an extremely motivated Sanders entering their suddenly crowded quarterback room looking to find a way to earn the team's starting gig. While he may not be the Week 1 starter, the other healthy quarterbacks on the roster (Joe Flacco, Kenny Pickett, and Gabriel) don't inspire much confidence, so Sanders could still find his way onto the field sooner rather than later, even though he endured a big fall in the 2025 draft.
