For the first time in his football career, Shedeur Sanders is at the bottom of his team’s depth chart. However, that doesn’t mean that the Cleveland Browns’ rookie quarterback isn’t practicing and preparing the same way.
Sanders, who the Browns took in the fifth round of the 2025 NFL Draft, believes that he’s handling his situation as Cleveland’s unofficial fourth-string quarterback “real well.”
“I would say it’s just a mindset, this adjustment. You got to go and understand the situation that you’re in and be able to approach that and get the best out of it,” Sanders told reporters following the Browns’ first mandatory minicamp practice on Tuesday. “You could view things as you’re not getting reps in a negative way, or you could view it as, OK, when is my time to get out there? Let’s be proactive, let’s get warm and let’s get going.
“So, there’s no excuses because when you get out there, nobody cares how many reps you got whenever you get in the game. Nobody cares if you took a snap before. Everybody cares about production. So that’s the main thing when you get out there: You got to be able to produce.”
Following Day 2 of Browns minicamp on Wednesday, Joe Flacco, Kenny Pickett and third-round rookie Dillon Gabriel split first-team reps. Sanders’ reps during the offseason program came with the backup units, but he saw his workload increase as Flacco’s reduced.
On the final snap of Tuesday’s practice, Sanders connected with Luke Floriea on a skinny post route while under pressure. Another highlight came during a 7-on-7 drill, when he threw a deep ball up the right sideline to Gage Larvadain with cornerback Dom Jones in coverage.
Sanders seemed to carry the momentum into Wednesday’s practice. He statistically outperformed Cleveland’s other three quarterbacks, unofficially completing 8 of 9 passes with a touchdown during team drills, according to ESPN Cleveland. Flacco completed 3 of 7 passes (one touchdown), Pickett completed 6 of 11 passes (one touchdown) and Gabriel completed 9 of 16 passes (two touchdowns), according to ESPN Cleveland’s unofficial stat tracking at Wednesday’s practice.
Shedeur Sanders shines early, but still no first-team reps — Could he still start as a rookie?
As Sanders has seemingly impressed during the team’s offseason program, Browns head coach Kevin Stefanski stressed to not look to deeply into who is getting first-team reps and who isn’t.
“It’s the offseason. It’s OTAs, so we’re going to keep the focus there,” Stefanski told reporters on Wednesday. Once you get into training camp, of course, you’re getting ready to play games and ultimately getting ready to play the season. But right now, that’s not our focus.”
Following Wednesday’s practice, Sanders was seen putting in extra work, spending an extra 15 to 20 minutes on passing drills. Another big adjustment for Sanders is trying to get through his progressions quicker so that he avoids sacks. Sanders was sacked 94 times over his last two seasons at Colorado, the most by a quarterback in the Football Bowl Subdivision, and that contributed to his drop in the draft.
“It’s definitely going through the progressions and getting comfortable and knowing the ins and outs of everything. So, when you go on the field, I already have a different type of confidence by myself, regardless,” he said, adding that when training camp begins, “I’ll be there.”
Stefanski said going through progressions is a bedrock of offensive efficiency, but mastering that skill can take time.
“Being able to get through a progression is not as easy as it sounds. Your eyes are studying the defenders and seeing what they’re doing, and then ultimately, you’re listening to your feet,” Stefanski said. “To quote an old Gary Kubiak line, ‘You have a prescribed drop for a play, and that drop, and those hitches will take you where the ball is supposed to go.’”
While some Browns fans would love to see him start the Sept. 7 opener against the Cincinnati Bengals — or soon thereafter — Sanders said his goal is just to become as polished as he can.
“I got time to be able to grow and mature and be able to understand the ins and outs of the defenses and be able to get the good insight from the vets in the room,” he said. “So, I look at it as a plus. I got time to actually be able to really have a great understanding. And whenever, you know, it’s time for me to play, then it’s time for me to play.
“But I’m not looking too far in the future about all that. I’m looking about every day in practice because I had some misses out there today that, you know, we got to go in there and correct, reads getting in and out drops a little bit faster from under center. So that’s the main thing. I’m focused on the small things, and over time, the big things will happen.”
Browns mincamp will conclude on Thursday. After that, the team will break for over a month before returning for training camp in July.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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