Cleveland Browns quarterback Shedeur Sanders played four college seasons under Deion Sanders as a head coach, spending two seasons at Jackson State and two seasons at Colorado. Sanders also enjoyed considerable success under his father’s leadership before moving to the NFL.
The former Colorado quarterback took college football by storm in his senior season in 2024, as he threw for 4,134 yards and 37 touchdowns. His impressive performances throughout the season helped him win the Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award and the Big 12 Offensive Player of the Year Award. However, Sanders has faced setbacks during his short NFL career.
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It all started with one of the most shocking slides in recent NFL Draft history, with the Browns selecting him with the 144th overall pick in the fifth round. This was followed by him being placed behind Joe Flacco and Dillon Gabriel on the Browns quarterback depth room at the start of his rookie season in 2025.
Sanders suffered his most recent setback on August 24 when Todd Monken named Deshaun Watson the Browns’ starting quarterback after one of the most grueling QB battles of the NFL offseason. Sanders gave Watson a proper fight until the end, but Watson’s full body of work proved to be too good.
Deion Sanders has made a pointed statement after Todd Monken’s decision to pick Watson over Shedeur Sanders. While speaking to reporters, Coach Prime, without pointing a finger at anyone, said, “We all know what’s transpiring with Shedeur; we all know he’s playing extremely well.”
This comment came at an interesting time. Robert Griffin III, in a post on X yesterday, claimed that Monken was not the person who made that call. He also added that Watson’s $230 million contract drove this decision. It will be interesting to see if Browns or Monken respond to these bold statements made by Deion and Griffin.
