Cleveland Browns quarterback Shedeur Sanders is one of the most polarizing figures in the NFL. Initially viewed as a first-round pick heading into the 2025 NFL Draft, Sanders fell all the way to the fifth round, where the Browns traded up to land him.
Sanders made eight appearances and seven starts during his rookie campaign, throwing for 1,400 yards, seven touchdowns and 10 interceptions while completing 56.6 percent of his passes. He was named a Pro Bowl alternate, but that was obviously more due to his name than his performance.
The 24-year-old is not even guaranteed Cleveland’s starting quarterback job heading into 2026, with a healthy Deshaun Watson potentially overtaking him. This has sparked trade speculation.
While it doesn’t seem likely that the Browns will move Sanders before the start of the regular season, it’s also fair to question whether or not he has what it takes to be Cleveland’s franchise quarterback moving forward, and Nick Baumgardner of The Athletic has revealed what may be Sanders’ most fatal flaw.
His own ego.
In a piece where Baumgardner broke down Sanders’ film from his rookie year, he noticed one thing in particular about the University of Colorado: his insistence on essentially going rogue.
“The biggest flaw in Sanders’ game remains the same: His instinct isn’t to play on time with the offense, it’s to play on ‘Shedeur Sanders time,'” Baumgardner wrote. “One of the biggest challenges for NFL quarterbacks is reading through an entire pass progression in just two and a half to three seconds. If a QB pops up looking to throw too early, none of his routes are going to be ready; if he’s too late, he’s going to miss previously open targets.”
To be fair, Sanders did not exactly have a bevy of weapons at his disposal in 2025, and his offensive line was not exactly stout in front of him.
But it’s important to note that the same flaw that Baumgardner sees is something many scouts also saw during Sanders’ time at Colorado.
Sanders also isn’t the most athletic quarterback in the world, which makes it even more vital that his timing be at least above average. But that just isn’t the case right now.
Many times, this deficiency is unfixable for quarterbacks, and it ends up derailing their careers.
We’ll see if Sanders can make then necessary adjustments in 2026 and beyond.
