Around this same time last year, most mock drafts had Shedeur Sanders going in the first round of the NFL Draft. He was projected to go as high as No. 1 at one point, and most analysts had him as the second quarterback off the board by the time draft day arrived.
Sanders slipped to the No. 144 spot instead. His draft slide may have been the most notorious in NFL Draft history, and while most of the fans and the media were in disbelief, key decision-makers around the league knew it all along.
He reportedly rubbed some people the wrong way in his pre-draft interviews, and he didn't do himself any favors by skipping throwing drills at the scouting combine. A whole year has gone by, and even after watching him take the field for eight games as a rookie, the league-wide perception around him hasn't changed, according to Cleveland radio host Anthony Lima.
"This was the second straight combine week that went bad for Shedeur Sanders," Lima said on 92.3 The Fan. "... (Last year) Out of the combine, I can't find anybody that has a first-round grade on Shedeur Sanders. What changed? A bunch of decision makers got together and started talking. It happened again this year. For the second straight week, it seemed like you couldn't find anybody who was ready to pencil Shedeur in as QB1 with the Cleveland Browns."
NFL GMs still aren't high on Shedeur Sanders
Truth be told, that sounds more like a narrative-based take, with general managers already making up their minds about Sanders while ignoring the facts. Granted, he struggled as a rookie, but so have many stars, and we're talking about a fifth-round selection.
Clearly, the public had a different perception of Sanders' talents or NFL-readiness. He fell to the fifth round for a reason. As such, judging him as the first-round pick he wasn't is just setting him up for failure and constantly moving the goalposts. It's nitpicking.
Sanders is supposed to make mistakes; all rookies do. He's supposed to look bad at times. Even if that was the case, he ignited the Browns' ever-struggling offense with a different type of confidence and swagger. The team just felt different when he was out there.
The Browns would be doing the right thing by keeping an eye on the quarterback market. That doesn't mean they have to force things or make moves out of sheer desperation when they have a project like Sanders in their hands.
Todd Monken has shown an ability to adapt to his personnel at every stop, and his offenses have always been fun to watch. He acknowledged that Sanders still has a ways to go, but the prospect of them working together is certainly intriguing.
Once again, it just feels like all the conversation around the Browns has to be negative. The good-old Browns are the usual punchline, a team that can't seem to get out of its own way and that will inevitably fail. People ignore facts and fixate on narratives.
Sanders will have a full offseason to prove that he belongs in the league and has to be the starting quarterback for this team. As for the Browns, they need to shut down the outside noise and not let external narratives shape their offseason plans.