Even though he fell all the way to the fifth round in the 2025 NFL Draft, Shedeur Sanders found a way to start for the Cleveland Browns in his rookie season. And in spite of some obvious struggles, ESPN NFL Draft analyst Mel Kiper Jr. is not giving up hope for his NFL future.
Rewind back to last year’s draft and Kiper launched into a rant that will make it onto his career highlight tapes from his decades at ESPN. As Sanders plummeted from an expected Top 10 pick all the way to the fifth round, it was one of the more shocking storylines in the history of the draft.
Finally, Cleveland came to his rescue, but not before they also drafted Oregon quarterback Dillon Gabriel ahead of him and brought back veteran Joe Flacco.
As Sanders’ rookie season unfolded, it was filled with all the drama that you would expect. But eventually he found his way onto the field after Flacco was traded and Gabriel was injured. And although he went a respectable 3-4 as a starter for the Browns and showed some flashes of his potential, his actual numbers and performances left a lot to be desired.
Sanders finished the 2025 season with 7 TDs and 10 INTs while posting a paltry 68.1 quarterback rating, which ranked 49th out of 50 NFL quarterbacks this season.
But in spite of those horrific numbers, Mel Kiper Jr. remains a believer. On the First Draft ESPN podcast with Mike Greenberg and Field Yates, the trio conducted an early 2026 NFL Mock Draft. And when it came to the Browns’ projected selection of Ohio State wide receiver Carnell Tate, it allowed Kiper the chance to go to bat once again for his ride-or-die prospect.
“What the hell has he got to do? Are we going to get into this negativity again about Shedeur,” Kiper asked. “I don’t know what else the kid needs to do. Josh Allen had haters in year three so if Josh Allen has haters in year two and three of his career, there’s no way Sheduer can avoid it.”
For what it’s worth, Josh Allen’s quarterback rating in his rookie season was a very similar 67.9 and he also finished with more interceptions than touchdowns. However, by his third year with the Bills his rating was over 107 and he was the runner up in the MVP voting.
Shedeur Sanders is a loooong way from that, especially with the notorious ineptitude of the Cleveland Browns franchise as a whole. If Sanders does emerge as the starter for the Browns in 2026, the entire roster is going to need a serious overhaul for him to succeed. And he’s going to also get a head coach who will support him and build around him… at least we won’t have to hear anymore about those Kevin Stefanski sabotage theories.
Does Sanders’ play in 2025 deserve that level of commitment in Cleveland? Mel Kiper Jr. certainly thinks so and he doesn’t care what the numbers or anyone else has to say.
“I watched every play, every snap of Shedeur Sanders,” Kiper declared. “He should be proud of what he had to go through and survive. And to come out winning that game yesterday, driving them down to get into field goal range inside of 50 yards to make that field goal and win it… to be able to show more mobility than anybody thought, the accuracy’s there. Everything about Shedeur Sanders screams he’s the quarterback. But if people are going to be negative in April they’re going to be negative now.”
“They’re going to look, where does he rank? Forget that. Look at the interceptions that were off of Jerry Jeudy, off of Judkins’ shoulder, batted balls. Burrow had one yesterday. Batted and a pick six, you blaming Burrow for that? No. You blaming Shedeur for a couple batted balls that were picked off? You shouldn’t. Really, when you look at what Shedeur did this year, not having any training camp, never with the ones, defense offense, be thrown out there, playing in brutal weather conditions – not in domes in great weather – in brutal weather conditions. If you’re going to sit there and tell me you weren’t impressed with the rookie year Shedeur Sanders I’m going to say you weren’t watching the same game I was.”
That’s all well and good, but even by Cleveland Browns standards, Shedeur Sanders struggled mightily. His QBR of 18.8 was the worst ever recorded by ESPN for a Browns quarterback with a minimum of six starts. And we all know the who’s who that is on that list of dignitaries from Tim Couch to Johnny Manziel.
Honestly though, the battle lines around Shedeur Sanders were drawn before he even took the field this year. And clearly, there was nothing that he could have done that would turn doubters into believers and vice versa. We just all have to be prepared to go another round if he takes the field in Cleveland next season… and especially if he doesn’t.
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