Shedeur Sanders has plenty of work ahead of him after appearing as QB4 on the Cleveland Browns’ first depth chart of the preseason Monday.
Sanders is attempting to focus on that rather than a potential visit from his famous father.
After Pro Football Hall of Famer and Colorado coach Deion Sanders said in an interview that his son asked him not to visit him at camp, the younger Sanders explained why on Monday.
“I don’t want him coming to see me right now because I want to get to where I want to go, then for him to see me,” Shedeur Sanders told reporters. “I don’t want him to come and see me get a couple reps, and he is cheering like a good dad. Like, nah, you can’t be proud of me right now. I got to get to where I’m going, and I know it’s a lot I got to do to get there.
“It’s kind of like I just want everything that I’m doing is just focus on this time, and I don’t want no distractions because we know how the media, we know how everybody would take it and take away from the team, just from him being my own dad showing up. So, it is a gift and a curse at the same time.”
Shedeur Sanders experienced a precipitous fall in the draft after he was widely expected to be selected in the first round as one of the first quarterbacks off the board. He wasn’t even the first QB selected by the Browns, who chose Oregon quarterback Dillon Gabriel in the third round before adding Sanders in the fifth (144th overall).
Now Sanders is battling Kenny Pickett, Joe Flacco and Gabriel for reps at camp. Sanders is the only one who has yet to receive first-team reps.
Come Monday night, the Browns released an unofficial depth chart for the preseason opener Friday at the Carolina Panthers. Flacco, Pickett and Gabriel were ahead of Sanders in that order.
Muddying the waters even more, the Browns are signing a fifth quarterback in Tyler Huntley, according to several reports Monday. The 27-year-old former backup for the Baltimore Ravens (2020-23) and Miami Dolphins (2024) has started 14 times in 25 career games and thrown for 2,876 yards, 11 touchdowns and 10 interceptions.
The addition of Huntley comes as other Cleveland QBs have suffered injuries. Pickett, for example, has not practiced fully since injury a hamstring on July 26, while Gabriel was limited on Monday due to hamstring tightness. Sanders was held out on Saturday because of arm soreness.
Some speculated that Sanders’ fall was the result of bad advice he received from his father, who was his coach at Jackson State and Colorado, and that NFL teams would not want Deion Sanders’ specter looming over their operation.
Deion did visit Shedeur’s brother Shilo at the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ training camp. But he is also dealing with a full plate: He had his bladder removed due to a tumor earlier this year, and his Buffaloes are a few weeks away from their 2025 season opener.
“It was something that we really ain’t even have a formal conversation about because, it was like, ‘Y’all need to focus on what y’all can focus on. Can’t sit here and feel sorry for me, and then that’s affecting y’all doing that,'” Shedeur Sanders said.
–Field Level Media
