Shedeur Sanders has a home in the NFL after a shocking, nearly three-day wait during which he dramatically slid down the draft.
The Cleveland Browns ended one of the most controversial NFL Draft slides in league history when they selected Sanders in the fifth round with the 144th overall pick Saturday.
The NFL world had been locked in on the Sanders family home since Thursday night as Sanders experienced one of the most dramatic and shocking draft slides in league history.
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“Nothing really affected me the last couple of days,” Sanders told reporters Saturday. “I’m favored, I’m blessed. Besides that, it’s not really anything that changed. The love of the game is still the love of the game. When you get on the field, there wasn’t too much negativity being said. I know I gotta clean up some things in my game for me to be at my best, but that’s what I take each offseason one at a time and fix it.
“The main thing, I’m just proving — coach (Kevin) Stefanski and (general manager Andrew) Berry — that they are right. That’s it. They’re right about picking me. I’m a good decision. I’m a good draft pick for them, to be able to come in there and do what I need to do.”
For Sanders, considered at one point to be a contender for the No. 1 overall pick in the draft, the fall was historic.
Top prospects like Sanders have had shocking slides in past NFL Drafts. Aaron Rodgers slipped down to the 25th overall pick in the 2005 NFL Draft and was passed over by the 49ers for Alex Smith.
Patrick Mahomes wasn’t taken until the 10th pick in the 2017 Draft and was passed over for Mitch Trubisky by the Bears. Still, at the time, Mahomes was less of a hyped prospect than Sanders.
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Lamar Jackson fell all the way to the 32nd pick in the 2018 draft after four other quarterbacks were taken ahead of him.
But Sanders had to wait well into the third day to hear his name called, with nearly all the event’s national attention at that point squarely on him.
Sanders also had to deal with a prank call by an imposter NFL GM in front of a Twitch livestream audience Friday night.
“Of course, I feel like it was a childish act, but everybody does childish things here and there,” Sanders told reporters of the prank phone call, via Cleveland.com reporter Mary Kay Cabot.
Browns head coach Kevin Stefanski addressed the prank call at a press conference Saturday.
“It’s sad that these young men have to deal with this,” Stefanski said. “It’s silly, but onward and upward.”
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Now, Sanders is focused on doing his best job with the Browns and showing everyone the “real” him.
“I know I’m going to fit in perfectly,” Sanders said. “I feel like it’s first getting in, showing respect to the vets, showing them I’m here ready to work. Show the coaches and have them understand, I’m here ready to work. So, they could actually understand the real me. That’s what I’m truly thankful to have, is the opportunity for people to actually see the real me and not be able to see stuff that could be true or not.”
Sanders’ father and college coach, Deion Sanders, sent a message of gratitude on X after his son was picked.
“My bible says God uses the foolish things to confound the wise & he chose the weak things of the world that he may put to shame the strong,” Sanders said in a post on X. “Please know God ain’t done & God is just really getting started. Enjoy this lesson & stop stressing.”
God was a common theme throughout the draft experience for the entire Sanders family. Shedeur and Deion expressed thanks to God in several social media posts without any further context dozens of times since Thursday.
Deion’s other son, Deion Sanders Jr., posted a frenzy of Bible verses on his X account, and then retweeted those same posts just hours later.
Deion has been a devout Christian throughout his football career, and his sons leaned on that throughout the weekend during Shedeur’s unprecedented experience.
However, Shedeur is also different from Deion in other ways, according to Browns general manager Andrew Berry.
“Shedeur, he is probably a little bit opposite in terms of personality with his dad,” Berry told reporters Saturday. “A little bit quieter, a little bit more introverted, but we felt good with him as a person. He works hard. He’s a really good kid. He wants to be great. His teammates loved him in Colorado. And I know he’ll come in ready to work and ready to put his best foot forward.”
Several reports indicated Sanders may have interviewed poorly with multiple NFL general managers throughout the draft process. However, the Browns’ Berry said his team’s interview was a “positive” experience.
Berry and Stefanski suggested Sanders will compete for the team’s starting quarterback position in 2025.
“We don’t care once they walk in the doors. Don’t care first-round pick, seventh-round pick, undrafted. Once you’re here and you’re on this football team, you’re a part of this culture, you’re a part of this family, and we’re just going to keep our heads down and go to work.”
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