Analysts, fans, and pundits were shocked by the slider of former Colorado Buffaloes quarterback Shedeur Sanders, the son of Hall of Famer Deion Sanders, who also served as Shedeur’s head coach in college.
Sanders entered the draft widely regarded as the second-best quarterback in the prospect class, which is what made it so shocking when he wasn’t selected in the first round of the draft.
Things got even harder to believe when Sanders wasn’t selected on the second day of the draft. Sanders was eventually selected in the fifth round by the Cleveland Browns, after the franchise had already selected former Oregon Ducks quarterback Dillon Gabriel in an earlier round of the draft.
To make matters uglier for Sanders, he was the butt of jokes across social media after a prank call led him to believe that he’d been selected earlier than he actually was.
Now that he has his NFL home, Sanders is speaking on his situation and why he thinks the Browns drafted him.
“I think what happened is I had a great interview and a great process with the Browns, and that’s why they were able to pick me,” Sanders said. “So anything outside the organization is really a non-factor to me now because this is my focus, and this is where my mind is, doing everything I can to make this team better.”
Sanders also addressed his pre-draft interviews and the process as a whole.
“I feel like in life there are always ways I can improve,” Sanders said. “There are different areas I’m able to improve. And some things I could have done at the time, that seemed right at the time, I could have gone about it a different way.”
It’ll be interesting to see if Sanders can be the quarterback the Browns have been looking for the last two decades plus.