The Cleveland Browns had a pretty stern message for Shedeur Sanders when they informed the Colorado quarterback that they were selecting him in the fifth round of the 2025 NFL Draft: get ready to compete.
Cleveland shared a video of its phone call with Sanders from Draft Day on Wednesday. In the video, Browns general manager Andrew Berry addressed Sanders’ surprising fall before offering some motivating words for the team’s newest quarterback.
“I know it’s been a long weekend,” Berry told Sanders as the Browns drafted him with the 144th overall pick. “We’re going to take you off the board here, alright brother?”
“Yessir, let’s do it,” Sanders replied.
“Listen, you’ve gotta come in, you’ve gotta work hard, earn your keep and it doesn’t matter where you’re taken,” Berry continued. “It matters what you do moving forward. You’re talented. We spent a lot of time with you. You’re a good kid. Let’s get ready to go to work and prove all the people who passed on you wrong.”
Browns head coach Kevin Stefanski also spoke with Sanders over the phone.
“I’m excited to see you,” Sanders told his new head coach when he jumped on the phone.
“Remember, I told you the Lord works in mysterious ways,” Stefanski told Sanders. “It’s an opportunity and we’re going to work to get together.”
The video ended with Sanders putting on a Browns baseball cap with a smile and applause from his family and friends.
“W,” Sanders told the camera.
Sanders later appeared on his brother’s (Shilo Sanders) live stream when the pick was announced during the NFL Draft. He began dancing before running and jumping into a pool at the house he was at.
As Sanders was elated by getting drafted by the Browns, Cleveland didn’t appear to be as enthusiastic when the pick was announced. ESPN and NFL Network’s broadcast cameras showed Berry and Stefanski looking stoic when the pick was announced, leading to speculation on who was really behind the Browns’ selection of Sanders.
Berry and Stefanski asked people not to read into the looks on their faces from that moment.
“Yeah, I think we’re probably just tired from the weekend,” Berry told reporters on Saturday.
“Those clips, it’s not timed up to exactly the right time so I wouldn’t — don’t read too much into that,” Stefanski added.
Sanders’ Draft Day slide was arguably the most surprising in the history of the NFL Draft. Entering the event, the majority of mock drafts had him as a first-round selection. Earlier in the draft process, several mock drafts had the Browns selecting Sanders with the No. 2 overall pick.
But Cleveland opted to trade out of the No. 2 overall selection, picking defensive tackle Mason Graham at No. 5. Ahead of Day 2, many thought the Browns would take Sanders in the second round. However, they passed on him with the 33rd (UCLA LB Carson Schwesinger) and 36th (Ohio State RB Quinshon Judkins) overall picks. They passed on Sanders again with the 67th overall pick (Bowling Green TE Harold Fannin Jr.) before selecting a quarterback with the 94th overall selection, but it was Oregon’s Dillon Gabriel.
Joel Klatt dives into why Shedeur Sanders dropped to the 5th round
Gabriel was the last quarterback taken before Sanders, with five quarterbacks in total being selected before Cleveland picked up its second quarterback in the draft.
“We felt like he was a good, solid prospect at the most important position,” Berry said of the Sanders selection on Saturday. “We felt like it got to a point where his price relative to the draft where the acquisition cost was pretty light. It’s a guy we think can outproduce his draft stock. I wouldn’t say it’s any more than that.”
Sanders and Gabriel will join a packed quarterbacks room with the Browns. They added Kenny Pickett and Joe Flacco this offseason to go along with Deshaun Watson. However, Watson is reportedly likely to miss much, if not all, of the 2025 season after re-injuring his Achilles.
The Draft Day fall wasn’t the only drama that surrounded Sanders over the weekend. He received a prank call during Day 2 of the draft, in which someone impersonating New Orleans Saints general manager Mickey Loomis informed him that they were drafting Sanders.
It was later revealed that the son of Atlanta Falcons defensive coordinator Jeff Ulbrich, Jax, was the culprit behind the prank call. The Falcons received a $250,000 fine and Ulbrich received a $100,000 fine for the prank call on Wednesday, the league announced.
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