The questions surrounding Cleveland Browns quarterback Shedeur Sanders extend well beyond the mixed results from his first NFL season.
Mike Sando of The Athletic recently shared that Sanders’ reputation around the league has taken a hit based on both his on-field performance and his overall approach. Sando made those comments while appearing on the Ultimate Cleveland Sports Show, noting that Sanders placed 35th — dead last — in his yearly quarterback tiers ranking.
Those rankings come from ballots submitted by 50 NFL coaches and executives. Sanders ended up at the bottom of the group of quarterbacks who were evaluated.
“After seeing him last season — and not just as a player, but just seeing how he handles things — I think the league is turned off,” Sando said. “Maybe unfairly so. Maybe even more so than the on-field product suggests, just because of the way he goes about his business. I think it’s not exactly what NFL teams are looking for.”
Sanders collected one vote in Tier 3, 37 in Tier 4 and 12 in Tier 5. Sando explained that Tier 5 does not normally appear in the published rankings because no quarterback received enough support to land there. Still, nearly a quarter of the voters placed Sanders in that group.
“He’s inaccurate at all three levels. I can’t tell if he’s going to get better, but there’s a huge gap between him and competent QB play,” one executive said.
In his rookie year, Sanders completed 56.6 percent of his passes for about 1,400 yards, seven touchdowns and 10 interceptions. The Browns finished 3-4 in the seven games he started. Those limited opportunities behind an inconsistent offense leave plenty of uncertainty about what Sanders can eventually become.
Sando pointed out that the survey took place before training camp began. Much of the feedback he received came from talks after the draft and before Sanders had a chance to work with new Browns head coach Todd Monken.
Sanders arrived in the NFL with a level of visibility few other prospects enjoy. He put up strong numbers in college while playing for his father, Hall of Famer Deion Sanders, at Colorado, and he ranked among the most recognizable names in his draft class.
“He has a pedigree that the others don’t have,” Sando said. “Things have come easier to him than others because of who he is. What happened in the draft is probably more reflective of what his talent is than his name.
“If he was Shedeur Sando, it wouldn’t have the same resonance as Shedeur Sanders. He’s one of those guys who is propped up by who he is in our consciousness rather than the traits and how you see him as a player.”
Many expected Sanders to come off the board early, yet he slid all the way to the fifth round. The Browns selected him with the 144th overall pick.
“People in the league thought he was going to be drafted much higher,” Sando said. “Yet those people were not necessarily saying they agreed that he should be drafted earlier. A lot of them were saying, ‘I wouldn’t pick him in the top 10.’ I think there was an expectation he’d be drafted higher than he was.”
Sanders is battling Deshaun Watson for the starting role in Cleveland. Watson did not rank much higher, finishing 31st overall and settling into Tier 4 after sitting out the entire previous season while recovering from multiple Achilles tendon surgeries.
That low placement shows how far Watson’s standing has dropped since his Pro Bowl days with the Houston Texans. He has played in only 19 games since joining the Browns in 2022 and has yet to look like the player the team hoped to get when it acquired him.
Sanders, Watson and the rest of the Browns open the preseason against the Chicago Bears on Aug. 15. They follow that with games against the Buffalo Bills and New England Patriots.
