Shedeur Sanders' contract has ironic value compared to Colorado's new QB NIL deals

Shedeur Sanders' first four years as an NFL player are officially on the contract books of the Cleveland Browns.

His rookie signing was announced Monday, a four-year deal worth $4.6 million ($1.15 million per year).

In this modern era of NIL deals at the college level, every pro contract invites curiosity as to how it might compare to a college valuation.

In this case, Sanders' yearly pay is almost exactly the same as new Colorado QB JuJu Lewis' NIL value, which was reported by Sports Illustrated as being $1.1 million.

To be fair, this is actually not as interesting as some would want it to be, for two reasons.

For one, Shedeur likely would've made much more in NIL deals if he stayed in college.

And two, Sanders' $1.15 million number comes from his actual rookie contract. He can make much more on top of that in sponsorship deals.

MORE: Comparing Shedeur, Shilo Sanders NFL contracts

So while on the surface, those numbers are oddly similar, they aren't telling the same story.

Sanders would've made much more as a first-round pick, but that ship has long since sailed.

All Shedeur can do now, and Lewis for that matter, is prove that he deserves much more in his next contract.

MORE NFL NEWS:

• Browns' Deshaun Watson makes a dumb decision
• Bears made a terrible trade offer to try and solve RB issues
• Shedeur Sanders saves his teammate from a costly error
• Shilo Sanders reveals surprise role with Buccaneers
• Derrick Henry makes retirement plans clear
• 49ers' Brock Purdy contract has a key new detail