The Cleveland Browns made perhaps the two biggest headlines of the 2025 NFL Draft when they traded the No. 2 overall pick for a package centered around the No. 5 pick, while also putting a stop to the well-documented slide of Colorado quarterback Shedeur Sanders by selecting him with the 144th overall pick in the fifth round.
It was a stunning fall for a guy who was in the mix to be the first overall pick just a few months ago, and one insider recently revealed what Sanders must improve upon to prove all these teams wrong and become a successful NFL quarterback.
Mary Kay Cabot wrote for Cleveland.com that there are a handful of technical things that Sanders must improve at the next level, and they aren’t criticisms we haven’t heard before.
“As for Sanders, there are things he needs to clean up in his game, and he knows it. He must stop drifting backwards and taking unnecessary sacks […] He must also be much more decisive and get the ball out quicker,” Cabot wrote. “As for his arm strength, he’s got plenty of heat and spin on the deep ball, but must put more juice into the shorter routes.”
Sanders has been criticized for holding the ball too long throughout the pre-draft process, but his arm has been deemed passable by most scouts, while his toughness and accuracy have been viewed as his biggest strengths.
He had a miserable offensive line at Colorado, so the hope is that behind a passable line, his natural gifts will shine through and some of the issues that plagued him in college will work themselves out.
Cleveland is in a unique situation now that they have two rookie quarterbacks and two veterans, not including Deshaun Watson, who is likely finished in Cleveland.
There will be no pressure on Sanders or the Browns for him to start right away since he was a fifth-rounder, and the team can simply wait and see how he and Dillon Gabriel develop before making any big decisions.
NEXT: Todd McShay Reveals His Draft Grade For Browns
