Why Browns’ Shedeur Sanders isn’t stressing losing $40 million in the 2025 NFL Draft

Shedeur Sanders was always going to be a polarizing player before he entered the league. The son of former NFL star Deion Sanders, Shedeur’s career so far can be summed up by what happened when he was drafted. Predicted to be a first-round draft pick by some experts, Sanders instead fell all the way to the fifth round. He was picked up by the Cleveland Browns in that round.

With that draft slide, Sanders’ rookie contract value significantly lowered. A top-10 pick in the NFL draft makes at least $26 million. Had he been drafted fifth or higher, his rookie contract would have been in the $40 million range. Since he was drafted with the 144th pick, though, the Browns were only able to offer a $4.6 million contract.

Sanders was recently asked about that draft slide and how losing out on potentially earning a contract worth $40 million affected him. The Browns star was honest and said that he was thankful that he was in a position where losing out on that amount of money was not a detriment to him.

“If you’ve been operating in regular life and make decisions that’s fine with you, then nothing’s gonna change,” Sanders said on a recent interview. “So that’s why I’m thankful and I’m blessed that nothing changed, you know, for me.”

Sanders found himself at the bottom of the Browns’ quarterback depth chart at the start of the season behind Joe Flacco and fellow rookie Dillon Gabriel. After Flacco was traded, Gabriel took over as the starting quarterback for a few months. With Gabriel underperforming as well, the team handed the reins of the offense to Sanders as the season wound down.

Sanders played in eight games this season, starting in seven of those games. The Browns quarterback finished the season with 1,400 yards and seven touchdowns. He completed just 56% of his passing attempts, threw 10 interceptions, and was sacked 23 times for a sack rate of 9.79%. There were flashes of Sanders’ brilliance, but in general, the quarterback made a lot of rookie mistakes.

The Browns now have the entire offseason to work out the issues with Sanders. With new head coach Todd Monken at the helm, Sanders has a chance to earn the starting quarterback role for himself in Week 1.

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