Shedeur Sanders would not be the first Day 3 pick to exceed expectations if he strings together a terrific NFL career. Following his stunning slide to the fifth round of last month's draft, Sanders recounted the conversations he had with legendary quarterback Tom Brady and compared his situation to that of the seven-time Super Bowl champion, who infamously waited until the sixth round to hear his name called in the 2000 draft. Sanders, at the Cleveland Browns rookie minicamp, said that his career will follow a similar trajectory.
The draft background is not the only thing Sanders and Brady have in common. Sanders selected the No. 12 jersey upon his arrival in Cleveland, further emulating the future Hall of Famer.
"My story is going to be similar," Sanders said, via ESPN Cleveland. "I was a late-round draft pick. But we're here now, so none of that stuff matters; that just mattered on the day. I'm just excited to be here and ready to work."
Brady spent the first year of his NFL career buried on the New England Patriots depth chart and did not secure a starting role until midway through Year 2 in the league. Sanders could find himself in a comparable spot this season given the Browns feature multiple options in the signal-caller group, including another 2025 draft pick in Dillon Gabriel.
Various reasons for Sanders' unexpected draft tumble surfaced in the wake of his selection at No. 144 overall. ESPN's Matt Miller, for one, said the NFL "will humble anyone" and specifically mentioned Sanders' decision to skip individual throwing workouts at the NFL Combine was a misstep that affected his draft stock.
"My job here isn't to prove people wrong," said Sanders. "I'm proving myself right. I fully have self-belief. What those people say, that's just their opinion. I don't truly care. They don't really live in my mental space about that type of stuff. It really doesn't do anything for me."
Sanders was a driving force behind Colorado's resurgence as a nationally relevant college football program with one of the nation's most outstanding passing campaigns in 2024. He completed 353 of his 477 passes for 4,143 yards and 37 touchdowns, with each of those marks leading all Big 12 quarterbacks.
Statistical production aside, Sanders reportedly received "unprofessional" and "disinterested" labels during two meetings with NFL teams in the pre-draft process. He entered the offseason widely projected to fly off the board in the first round but slipped out of the Day 1 outlook in numerous mock drafts.
The draft slide and comparisons to Brady led to the resurfacing of a podcast conversation between Brady and Deion Sanders.
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"I think he needs to get his [expletive] in the film room and spend as much time in there as possible and less time in the car," Brady said, jokingly, when Deion Sanders asked him about Shedeur Sanders' infatuation with luxury cars.
Brad Crawford contributed to this report.