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The Cleveland Browns are in the middle of a heated quarterback battle during training camp. Shedeur Sanders is duking it out with Dillon Gabriel, Joe Flacco, and the injured Kenny Pickett. One ESPN analyst still maintains that Sanders should have been drafted higher.
Stephen A. Smith made a bold declaration that Shedeur was punished because of Deion Sanders during the 2025 NFL Draft.
“I talk to a lot of people in the world of sports, a lot of power brokers, a lot of people that are decision makers or whatever,” Smith said on First Take on Wednesday. “I heard a lot about what was going on with Shedeur Sanders going into the draft. And I will contest to you, I will proclaim to you on national television that so much of what happened to Shedeur Sanders at draft day, to drop to the 144th pick, a fifth rounder, when initially he was projected to be a top two or three quarterback taken in the draft. For all of that to happen to him. That was a slight, those were people that were hell bent on making sure Deion Sanders didn’t get his way. And they punished his son to punish him.”
Smith maintains that Shedeur would not have fallen to the fifth round if it weren't for someone “taking shots” at his father Deion.
“Universally they watched the interviews, they saw the way Deion Sanders was speaking or whatever and that’s what broke his heart,” Smith concluded. “I’m telling you what I know. It broke his heart because he knew there was no way his son was going to fall to a fifth round if it wasn’t for people that were taking shots at him.”
It is impossible to know for sure if Shedeur was punished because of his father.
But the fact remains that several QB-needy teams passed on him, multiple times, during April's draft.
Browns coach's cryptic answer on Shedeur Sanders' spot in training camp battle
Now Shedeur needs to work his way up Cleveland's depth chart.
Browns head coach Kevin Stefanski gave a cryptic response when asked about Shedeur's standing in Cleveland's training camp battle.
“I'm not going to get in specifics on the players and where they're getting reps, those type of things,” Stefanski said. “He's working extremely hard. All those guys are. We're still not yet through the installation schedule. We're still just introducing two-minute yesterday. We'll introduce some different distances today situationally. So I wouldn't really think much past that.”
Training camp has only just begun, so it is a little premature for Stefanski to make any grand statements.
Browns fans should watch how the team hands out reps at practice to get a clue about the team's preferences.
