Shedeur Sanders just got here. And he's already being shoved out the door?
A new mock draft from ESPN’s Matt Miller isn't specifically about Shedeur. But it is about the trickle-down impact of a Cleveland Browns' next-move possibility that if it comes true would make a lot of "experts'' look terribly foolish ...
And might put Sanders out of a job.
Miller projects the Browns to finish with the worst record in the NFL next season - as painful as that is, we understand the projection - thereby earning the right to the No. 1 overall pick in the 2026 NFL Draft ...
And he has them selecting Clemson quarterback Cade Klubnik.
“Spending two picks on quarterbacks in 2025 — Dillon Gabriel (third round) and Shedeur Sanders (fifth round) — shouldn’t prevent the Browns from looking for a long-term passer here,” Miller wrote in his first mock draft. “Klubnik enters the season as my No. 1 QB. In 2024, he threw for 3,639 yards, 36 touchdowns and six interceptions, highlighted by a gutsy performance against Texas in the College Football Playoff (336 passing yards, three TDs, one INT).''
Miller is inarguably correct about the present status of Gabriel and Sanders; as it stands right now, they are not in the same class as Klubnik in terms of being a prospect.
So - again, as it stands right now - the projection makes sense.
Can Shedeur or Gabriel change that? Of course; April 2026 is a long time from now.
Will they change that? The projection here, obviously, is that they will not.
Miller, by the way, suggests that Klubnik "reminds me of Baker Mayfield — whom Cleveland selected with the No. 1 pick in 2018 — in terms of arm strength, mobility and playmaking awareness.”
That's sort of a haunting thought for Browns fans, who didn't enjoy Mayfield's work here but now seem him as a Pro Bowler with Tampa Bay. Maybe the next QB's path will be smoother going forward ... and for now, the candidates include Sanders, who gets his real first chance to chase Joe Flacco and Kenny Pickett on the depth chart with training camp later this month.