Shedeur Sanders DVOA, Advanced Stats, & Fantasy Rankings

The NFL is fining the Atlanta Falcons $250,000 and defensive coordinator Jeff Ulbrich $100,000 due to the leak of quarterback Shedeur Sanders' phone number ahead of the 2025 NFL Draft, according to NFL insiders Ian Rapoport, Tom Pelissero, and Mike Garafolo. Ulbrich's son, Jax, used the phone number to prank call Sanders on Day 2 of last week's draft. The 21-year-old issued a public apology days later, and the NFL is looking into ways to stop this from happening in the future.

The Cleveland Plain Dealer's Mary Kay Cabot writes that it is going to be a steep climb for rookie fifth-round quarterback Shedeur Sanders to beat out Steelers 2022 first-rounder Kenny Pickett, 2025 third-round rookie Dillon Gabriel and fan favorite Joe Flacco for the starting job in 2025. The Browns passed on Sanders six times in last week's draft, including at No. 94 when they took Oregon product Gabriel. Cleveland only traded up to take Sanders at 144th overall because the "steep discount" was too good to pass up. Cabot thinks the 23-year-old will have to outperform the other three QBs on the roster, and he'll have to do it with limited reps this summer. If the season started tomorrow, Pickett might be the current favorite to start under center for the Browns. If Sanders doesn't look good in training camp, he could eventually be cut before the start of the 2025 season this fall.

Most NFL coaches and scouts didn't view Cleveland Browns quarterback Shedeur Sanders as a first-round talent going into last week's draft. Sanders isn't an exceptional athlete, didn't show great arm strength and displayed bad habits while taking too many sacks at Colorado. The fact that he fell all the way to the fifth round of the draft means that most teams considered him to be more of a developmental project at the NFL level. SI.com's Albert Breer writes that when asked to explain an interception by a team during the scouting combine, Sanders didn't take blame and concluded that maybe he and the staff wouldn't be a good match. Ahead of another visit he took, Sanders got an install with mistakes intentionally planted in it, and Sanders didn't catch the mistakes. When he was called out on it, the resulting exchange wasn't pretty. With Cleveland also taking QB Dillon Gabriel in the draft, Sanders will likely be competing to be the team's No. 3 quarterback this summer.

The Cleveland Browns traded up with the Philadelphia Eagles to select Colorado quarterback Shedeur Sanders with the 144th pick in the 2025 NFL Draft. After one of the most historic slides in draft history, Sanders is finally off the board. There were times when Sanders was mocked to the Giants at No. 3 overall, so seeing him fall to the fifth round was truly fascinating. The general consensus around the league seems to be that Sanders possesses clear arm talent and quarterbacking skills, but his character is a major concern. Plus, many teams likely passed on him because they didn't want their backup quarterback to be a potential distraction. Whatever the reason, his slide ended with the Browns. Cleveland has an extremely crowded quarterback room with Deshaun Watson (Achilles) recovering from injury, followed by Joe Flacco, Kenny Pickett, Dillon Gabriel, and Sanders. Any of those quarterbacks could make the 53-man roster, so Sanders will need to have a very strong training camp if he wants to earn a roster spot or playing time.