You’re Deion Sanders’s son. You balled out at Colorado. You walked and talked like a Day 2 lock. But then came draft night… and it dragged. Second round, third, fourth, nothing. Then, finally, in the fifth, the phone rang. Cleveland. You told yourself it didn’t matter. You were in. But the road ahead is still not smooth for Shedeur Sanders. It has bumps.
Fast forward to July. Training camp is days away. You’re not getting first-team reps. You’re not even second. Kenny Pickett is getting all the love. Joe Flacco still has command. With each passing day, Shedeur’s place on the Cleveland roster keeps getting buried lower and lower. He’s now pegged 4th in the depth chart, after fellow rookie Dillon Gabriel. But in reality? It might be even worse than it looks.
In an episode of Rams Digest, the host talked about what it really means for Sanders to be in this position, and it might even lead him to a move away. “He might not even make it on the roster. Maybe not even on the practice squad. It sounds kinda crazy now, the idea of Browns moving on from Sanders,” he said.
That is big. It all started with the OTAs. After watching those clips, it felt like Sanders might even take up Flacco’s spot to be QB1. But spring hype only goes so far. Right now, it feels like Sanders is still trying to find his footing.
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With Joe Flacco and Kenny Pickett going at it for the top job, Shedeur and Dillon Gabriel came in basically fighting for scraps. And let’s be real, Gabriel’s made the most of it. He looks more comfortable, more in rhythm, and that mobility gives him an edge when things break down.
As for Shedeur? Some of those pre-draft concerns are popping back up. He’s holding the ball a beat too long and not quite firing through his reads. It’s not panic time, but so far, he’s mostly been relegated to cleanup duty in team drills. First-team reps? Pretty much non-existent.
It’s not just about being last in the pecking order. It’s the idea of being let go. If he doesn’t perform, the Browns will look to trade him. Without second thoughts. Even worse, it is very much possible that no team would be willing to take him. The host reiterated. “If the Browns and the first office don’t want him, that may mean nobody in the NFL wants him. If he’s good enough, he’ll stay in Cleveland. And if he’s bad, no one would want him,” he said. And he might be a victim of a crime that a lot of 5th-rounders have witnessed.
Shedeur Sanders and the fifth-round curse
The truth Shedeur’s facing right now haunts pretty much every fifth-round QB. As the host said, “But ultimately, this is a reality for all 5th-round quarterbacks of all time. It’s just a possibility of, ‘hey, you’re drafted in the fifth round. We’ll see if you make the roster.’ It’s not that heavy of an investment to let go of the guy.” And honestly, that’s what Shedeur’s up against right now. He’s not being groomed like a top pick. When you’re a Day 3 guy, every snap is basically a job interview. One bad week, and then? QB3 turns into QB… see you later.
History hasn’t exactly been kind to fifth-round quarterbacks. Just look at some of the names. Nathan Peterman got his shot, but after that infamous five-pick debut, the narrative stuck. Never bounced back. Brett Hundley had a golden opportunity filling in for Aaron Rodgers, but inconsistency sank him. You won’t get second chances.
And Clayton Thorson? He didn’t even make it out of camp with the team that drafted him. A.J. Feeley had a couple of moments as a stopgap, but nothing ever truly stuck. That’s the reality for guys taken in that range. You don’t get many chances, and when you do, you have to flash. ‘Decent’ isn’t enough. Fair or not, teams don’t wait around for fifth-rounders to figure it out.
And if you’re Sanders, that is the pattern you’re trying to break. There’s still time. Minicamps haven’t even started yet. He might want to read up on Mark Brunell. Drafted in the fifth round way back in ’93, he rewrote the odds. After biding his time, he took over in Jacksonville and turned a brand-new franchise into a playoff threat. If Sanders has any chance of making it in this league, he needs to take every chance he gets.
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