Shedeur Sanders had a chance to be selected by the Baltimore Ravens instead of the Cleveland Browns in the fifth round of the 2025 NFL Draft. It turns out in terms of getting a better chance to be a rookie starting quarterback, he landed with the wrong AFC North team.
While the Browns are making a switch from struggling former long-time Ravens starter Joe Flacco in favor of rookie top backup Dillon Gabriel, Sanders is No. 3 on the depth chart. Meanwhile, the Ravens will need former Cowboys sub Cooper Rush to start for at least a week or two with Lamar Jackson suffering a hamstring injury in Sunday’s Week 4 loss at Kansas City.
Although there would have been no guarantee for Sanders to play over the veteran Rush, hindsight says he would have at least had an opportunity to compete to play. In Cleveland, coach Kevin Stefanski has been stuck on Flacco and Gabriel has kept his higher draft position (third round) over Sanders. But former Steelers first-round pick Kenny Pickett was also part of the preseason process before his trade to the Raiders.
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Sanders would have faced fewer people in Baltimore. He also would have benefited from superior offensive coaching to develop behind Jackson from ace coordinator Todd Monken. Now Sanders keeps waiting for Flacco to be benched and Gabriel to flame out fast to see the field.
It’s unusual for a QB who drops to the fifth round of a draft to be picky about his landing spot. But Sanders wasn’t the usual fifth-round prospect. He was a meteoric faller whose father, Deion is a big-name all-time great Hall of Fame cornerback.
It’s not even arguable that without the Sanders surname and his popularity playing for Colorado in college, there would not be much to be said about Shedeur being yet another Browns draft flyer.
Shedeur Sanders, however, brings the unwarranted buzz and attention as the most polarizing third-string rookie QB in recent league history. There have been numerous articles on how the Browns should trade him, despite the fact that most every other team in the NFL also had the same four-plus rounds to take a shot on Sanders and didn’t.
MORE: Why Ravens passed on Shedeur Sanders in 2025 draft
Did Russell Wilson express his desire not to be taken by the Seahawks in the third round in 2012 because they spent a ton of money with the intent of starting Matt Flynn?
Did Dak Prescott pass on the Cowboys as a fourth-rounder in 2016 because they had Tony Romo?
Did Brock Purdy not want to be a 49ers Mr. Irrelevant seventh-round pick in 2022 despite the team trading up to take Trey Lance No. 3 overall in 2021?
Wilson took advantage of Pete Carroll’s open mind to shoot past Flynn in the QB competition. Prescott was pressed into action when both No. 2 Kellen Moore and Tony Romo suffered major injuries in camp and the preseason. Purdy wasn’t a lock to make the team, but he became invaluable when Lance (ankle) went down early and Jimmy Garoppolo (foot) went down late.
Jackson is set to miss the Week 5 home game vs. the Texans at the worst time, with the Ravens at 1-3. Given how important his running is, the Ravens won’t take any chances with his hamstring, hoping he might be OK to return against the Bears in Week 8 after a bye in Week 7.
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Whether alternate history would have Sanders jumping Rush on the depth chart because of boosted and accelerated in his development in a more functional Ravens’ offense, or being elevated to No. 2 for a few games, the situation would have helped him a lot more than the current Browns’ state.
Another reason cited for Sanders not wanting to be a Raven was his respect for Jackson. That respect would have been an ideal connection for his style of play vs. the Browns’ mishmash behind Flacco for lame-duck offensive-minded coach Kevin Stefanski.
Sanders didn’t want to sit and wait with what looked like a better path to start. But the NFL is full of twists and turns, where serendipity and surprise exist on the regular.
The Browns stopped Sanders’ slide at No. 144 overall, three spots behind the Ravens’ fifth-round turn at No. 141. That little difference from passing on the Ravens kept him from ever passing for the Ravens. Now the wait continues in Cleveland, with less of a guarantee of ever seeing the field.
