Shedeur Sanders was dealt another brutal blow after Cleveland Browns owner Jimmy Haslam distanced himself from the decision to draft the quarterback.
Sanders suffered a humiliating slide in the NFL Draft back in April, tumbling down into the fifth round amid general managers’ reported fears over his maturity.
The 23-year-old was eventually taken by the Browns with the 144th overall pick and now Browns owner Haslam has revealed who was behind the decision.
Meeting with reporters on Tuesday, Haslam said: ‘We have good process. We had a conversation early that morning and then we had a conversation later that day.
‘I think we had the right people involved in the conversation. And the end of the day, that’s [G.M.] Andrew Berry’s call. Andrew made the call to pick Shedeur.’
Though Berry may have made the decision to draft Shedeur, that hasn’t stopped him from offering some harsh advice to the 144th overall pick.
Cleveland Browns rookie Shedeur Sanders suffered a humiliating slide in the NFL Draft in April
Browns owner Jimmy Haslam (left) said Andrew Berry (right) was behind the decision
Haslam distanced himself from the decision to draft Sanders while speaking to reporters
Days after Shedeur was drafted by the Browns, the 23-year-old picked up two speeding tickets during the offseason.
GM Berry addressed the issue as training camp kicked off this week, admitting it wasn’t a good luck for the Colorado Buffaloes product.
‘Not smart. Just not smart,’ Berry told reporters. ‘It’s something that we’ve addressed with him. Look, he understands the implications, he understands the consequences.
‘It’s not just about yourself. It’s not just about having a joyride, but that you could injure other people. A deer or something cuts in front of you, your reaction time, it’s just dangerous.’
Last month, Shedeur was ticketed for driving 91mph in a 65mph zone and 101mph in a 60mph zone. And it was that second violation that led to the revelation of the first, as well as a missed court appearance.
Many NFL observers considered the former Colorado quarterback to be a nailed-on first round pick at the Draft this year – some even said he should be the first pick.
But after a tumultuous run-up to the event, where multiple teams took a dislike to Sanders’ attitude, he slid all the way down to the fifth round before the Browns put him out of his misery by taking him with the 144th pick.
Fast forward to July and, as one of four quarterbacks on the roster – and the one ranked fourth on the depth chart – he has been a peripheral figure in the early days of Browns camp.
There had been reported fears over Sanders’ maturity leading up to NFL Draft night
‘I’m not even going to think about that or have that even in my thought process of why it is,’ Sanders said about practicing with the third and fourth team this week.
‘It doesn’t make me feel down or it doesn’t make me feel left out or anything because I know who I am as a person. I know who I am as an individual, and I know what I could bring to this team.’
Joe Flacco and Kenny Pickett have mainly split first team reps between them while Dillon Gabriel, a third-round pick at quarterback in the draft, also had one 11-on-11 drill.
Who will start at signal caller for the first game against Cincinnati Bengals on September 7 is uncertain but Sanders has acknowledged that it is unlikely to be him.
