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The Browns finally ended Shedeur Sanders’ stunning fall by selecting the Colorado quarterback in the fifth round of the NFL draft Saturday, but members of their draft room — including general manager Andrew Berry and head coach Kevin Stefanski — didn’t exactly look excited about someone once considered a top prospect falling to them on Day 3.
Stefanski remained stoic while clapping when the broadcast panned to the draft room, while Berry appeared emotionless — as did plenty of the other people behind the pair — after they traded up and took Sanders No. 144 overall.
On paper, a prospect who at one point had been pegged as a top-three pick at the most important position in the sport fell to them in the fifth round.
But Sanders’ past three days had been defined by what didn’t happen in the draft, when teams kept passing on him — including the Browns, who selected former Oregon quarterback Dillon Gabriel in the third round Friday — and ended up selecting Jaxson Dart (No. 25 overall, Giants), Tyler Shough (No. 40 overall, Saints), Jalen Milroe (No. 92 overall, Seahawks) and then Gabriel before Sanders ultimately got the call.
Berry, though, told reporters that “we’re probably just tired from the weekend” when asked about the viral reaction, according to Pro Football Talk.
“Those clips, it’s not timed up to exactly the right time so I wouldn’t — don’t read too much into that,” Stefanski told reporters, according to the outlet.
Sanders and Gabriel now join a crowded Cleveland quarterback room that includes 40-year-old Joe Flacco and Kenny Pickett, a first-round pick whose production still hasn’t matched his draft label.
Controversial quarterback Deshaun Watson ruptured his Achilles tendon again in January while recovering from the same injury that ended his 2024 season, and his season has already been jeopardized.
So despite his fall and the seemingly unenthused reaction from the Browns, Sanders will enter his first NFL training camp and preseason with a chance to compete for snaps and demonstrate that he should’ve been selected far earlier than he actually was.
“We felt like he was a good, solid prospect at the most important position,” Berry told reporters of drafting Sanders. “We felt like it got to a point where his price relative to the draft where the acquisition cost was pretty light. It’s a guy we think can outproduce his draft stock. I wouldn’t say it’s any more than that.”
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