CLEVELAND, Ohio — The scene at Browns rookie minicamp told the story before a single word was spoken. National media descended on Cleveland. Cameras lined up. All eyes fixed on one player: Shedeur Sanders.
Dan Labbe described on the Orange and Brown Talk podcast: “This whole weekend has been a little surreal in a lot of ways. And today in particular, you show up. There’s a ton of cameras, a ton of reporters. Of course, a lot of national folks were in town for this. And it’s for Shedeur Sanders.”
What makes the Sanders phenomenon so remarkable isn’t just that he’s attracted this attention, but how his fame skyrocketed specifically because of his draft experience. As Mary Kay Cabot observed, “He became so much more famous by tumbling through the draft. He wasn’t that famous before. He was not moving the needle in the run up to the draft the way that he did after he fell and became a cult hero.”
That fall through the draft, which saw Sanders go from a potential early-round pick to the Browns’ selection in the fifth round, overall, transformed him from a notable prospect into a cultural touchpoint. Mary Kay Cabot noted, “Donald Trump went to bat for him on day two of the draft, calling out NFL teams,” highlighting the unprecedented level of attention his situation received.
The parallels to previous NFL media sensations are impossible to ignore. Mary Kay Cabot said, “This has some Johnny Manziel, some Johnny Football vibes to it. It’s really weird,” drawing comparisons to perhaps the most famous rookie quarterback circus in recent Browns history.
Dan Labbe added another comparison, noting the phenomenon has “got a little bit of that mania feel to it. And so you mentioned the locker room thing. And I just, every time I hear Shedeur talk... I come away feeling like, this is a guy that in the locker room, and we’ll see if it happens, but this is a guy that if he’s sitting in the locker room, you’re going to be able to just walk up to him and talk to him.”
This approachability represents a key difference between Sanders and previous NFL media sensations like Manziel. While the attention may be similar, the person at the center of it appears markedly different.
Mary Kay Cabot explained: “Shedeur is far, far more approachable than Johnny was. They put sort of an invisible border around Johnny that we were not allowed to go near him... He had this exalted status. It was so weird for somebody who had done nothing in the NFL.”
Sanders’ social media presence adds another dimension to his celebrity. When Ashley Bastock posted an innocuous video during minicamp, she was quickly bombarded by Sanders’ online supporters. Dan Labbe noted, “He’s got an online army that is going to protect Shedeur Sanders. That’s the online world we’re in. And he is an online celebrity.”
Perhaps most fascinating is how Sanders’ fame has transcended traditional football fandom. Dan Labbe shared an anecdote about his son, who isn’t a football fan but knew about Sanders: “He is not a football fan... And he’s like, I saw Shedeur, I saw Shedeur throw a pass... There is a level of fame to Shedeur where... A lot of people became, I think more interested in the Shedeur story because of that fall and now what he’s going to become.”
As the Browns move forward, they’ll be navigating uncharted waters with a fifth-round pick who brings first-round attention. The coming months will reveal whether Sanders’ play can match his fame, but one thing is already clear: the Shedeur Sanders phenomenon has arrived in Cleveland, and the Browns’ 2024 season narrative has already been forever altered by his presence.
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