If there is one thing Sheduer Sanders has going for him as he tries to hold on to his job as the Cleveland Browns’ starting quarterback, it’s the huge number of true believers who support him, no matter what. They feel he has been wronged ever since he fell out of the first round of the 2025 NFL Draft, and they will keep backing him until he finally proves all of his skeptics wrong.
Sanders dropped all the way to the fifth round, taken by the Browns at No. 144 overall, after Cleveland had already drafted quarterback Dillon Gabriel in the third round at No. 94. Cam Ward (No. 1, Tennessee Titans), Jaxson Dart (No. 25, New York Giants), Tyler Shough (No. 40, New Orleans Saints), and Jalen Milroe (No. 92, Seattle Seahawks), were also selected ahead of Sanders.
Despite arguably better rookie seasons from most of those quarterbacks, former Browns wide receiver Jarvis Landry recently made an eye-opening statement about Sanders, saying that he should have been “way higher” than every one of them, with the possible exception of Ward.
“The world knows that Shedeur Sanders should have been drafted way higher than these other guys. I don’t think we’ve ever seen someone that has first-round potential be taken in the fifth round only because of media propaganda. I’m not taking Jalen Milroe, not even over Dillon Gabriel, so there’s no way I’m drafting either one of these guys before Shedeur Sanders. I watched that TCU game, and from that point on, I became an active viewer of Colorado football,” Landry said.
Stop when you hear a QB better than Shedeur ✋ pic.twitter.com/cmCsj8D7Yw
— 4th and South (@4thAndSouthPod) May 25, 2026
It is hard to believe that in a highly competitive league like the NFL, teams would willingly pass on someone they believed was a first-round quarterback talent solely based on “media propaganda,” whatever that is. Then, once he was on the roster, a struggling team like the Browns would not willingly keep him on the bench if they thought he could help them win games.
When Sanders did get to play after Gabriel was injured, he posted some of the worst quarterback metrics in recent NFL history while making seven starts to close the season. So, except for Milroe, who got into just three games for the eventual Super Bowl champions, Sanders seems to fit right where he belongs.
Now, that’s not to say Sanders doesn’t deserve to start for Cleveland this season ahead of Deshaun Watson and Gabriel, for various reasons, but he still has to show a bit more on the field to leave no question about that.
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