.jpg) Sanders in 2025 | |||||||||||||||||||
| No. 12 – Cleveland Browns | |||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Position | Quarterback | ||||||||||||||||||
| Roster status | Active | ||||||||||||||||||
| Personal information | |||||||||||||||||||
| Born | (2002-02-07)February 7, 2002 (age 24) Tyler, Texas, U.S. | ||||||||||||||||||
| Listed height | 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) | ||||||||||||||||||
| Listed weight | 212 lb (96 kg) | ||||||||||||||||||
| Career information | |||||||||||||||||||
| High school | Trinity Christian(Cedar Hill, Texas) | ||||||||||||||||||
| College |
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| NFL draft | 2025: 5th round, 144th overall pick | ||||||||||||||||||
| Career history | |||||||||||||||||||
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| Awards and highlights | |||||||||||||||||||
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| Career NFL statistics as of 2025 | |||||||||||||||||||
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Shedeur Deion Sanders (/ʃəˈdʊər/shəd-OOR; born February 7, 2002) is an American professionalfootballquarterback for theCleveland Browns of theNational Football League (NFL). He playedcollege football for theJackson State Tigers andColorado Buffaloes, winning theJerry Rice Award,Deacon Jones Trophy, andJohnny Unitas Golden Arm Award before being selected by the Browns in the fifth round of the2025 NFL draft. Sanders is the son ofPro Football Hall of Fame cornerbackDeion Sanders and the younger brother of free agent safetyShilo Sanders.
Sanders was born on February 7, 2002, inTyler, Texas,[1] to former NFL playerDeion Sanders and Pilar Sanders. His parents are divorced. He has four siblings: Deiondra, Deion,Shilo, and Shelomi. He attendedTrinity Christian School inCedar Hill, Texas, where his father was the school's offensive coordinator.[2] As a senior, he completed 251 of 366 pass attempts for 3,702 yards and 43 touchdowns.[3] Sanders was rated a four-star prospect and initially committed to playcollege football atFlorida Atlantic before flipping toJackson State after his father was named head coach.[4][5]
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Sanders enrolled at Jackson State in January 2021, but was ineligible to play for the team in its spring season which was abbreviated and delayed from its normally intended 2020 schedule due toCOVID-19.[6] Sanders was named the Tigers' starting quarterback going into the 2021 fall season, and passed for 3,231 yards with 30 touchdowns and eight interceptions.[7] He was named theSouthwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) Freshman of the Year and second-team All-SWAC and won theJerry Rice Award as the most outstanding freshman in theNCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision, becoming the first player from ahistorically black college or university (HBCU) to win the award.[8][9] He signedname, image, and likeness (NIL) deals withGatorade,Beats by Dre, andNike, being the first college football player to sign with the latter.[10][11][12]
To open his sophomore season, Sanders completed 29 of 33 passes for 323 yards and five touchdowns in the Tigers' 59–3 win overFlorida A&M.[13] He completed 70.6% of his pass attempts for 3,732 yards with 40 touchdowns and six interceptions as a sophomore and was named the SWAC Offensive Player of the Year.[14] Sanders was also awarded theDeacon Jones Trophy as the nation's top HBCU player.[15] He entered the NCAA transfer portal after the2022 Celebration Bowl.[16]
After his father Deion was hired as head coach atColorado, Sanders joined his father and transferred to Colorado.[17] He was immediately named the Buffaloes' starting quarterback.[18]
In his first game for the Buffaloes, Sanders completed 38 of 47 pass attempts for a school-record 510 yards and four touchdowns in the team's 45–42 win over 17th-rankedTCU.[19] In the following game againstNebraska, he had 393 passing yards and two passing touchdowns to go with a rushing touchdown in the win.[20] Sanders quickly became the centerpiece of Colorado’s offense, setting a school record for single-season passing yards.[21] He led the Buffaloes to a 3–0 start with 348 yards, four touchdowns, and one interception in the next game, a win over Colorado State.[22] Following the team's first setback againstOregon,[23] he had 371 passing yards, four passing touchdowns, and one interception and a rushing touchdown in a narrow loss toUSC.[24] Following a win over Arizona State,[25] he had 400 yards, five touchdowns, and one interception in a loss toStanford.[26] He missed the season's final game againstUtah with a fracture in his back.[27] Overall, he finished the 2023 season with 3,230 passing yards, 27 passing touchdowns, and three interceptions to go with four rushing touchdowns in 11 games as the Buffaloes went4–8.[28][29]
Sanders led the Buffaloes to a9–4 record in 2024 and an appearance in theAlamo Bowl. He finished the season with 4,134 passing yards and 37 touchdowns, with anNCAA-leading 74%completion percentage.[30] He earnedBig 12 Offensive Player of the Year honors and named the winner of theJohnny Unitas Golden Arm Award.[31][32][33] In April 2025, Colorado announced Sanders's jersey number, along withTravis Hunter's, would be retired before the school's spring game.[34]
| Legend | |
|---|---|
| Led the NCAA | |
| Bold | Career high |
| Year | Team | Games | Passing | Rushing | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GP | GS | Record | Comp | Att | Pct | Yards | Avg | TD | Int | Rate | Att | Yards | Avg | TD | |||
| 2021 | Jackson State | 13 | 13 | 11–2 | 272 | 413 | 65.9 | 3,231 | 7.8 | 30 | 8 | 151.7 | 103 | −17 | −0.2 | 3 | |
| 2022 | Jackson State | 13 | 13 | 12–1 | 341 | 483 | 70.6 | 3,733 | 7.7 | 40 | 6 | 160.4 | 85 | 173 | 2.0 | 6 | |
| 2023 | Colorado | 11 | 11 | 4–7 | 298 | 430 | 69.3 | 3,230 | 7.5 | 27 | 3 | 151.7 | 111 | −77 | −0.7 | 4 | |
| 2024 | Colorado | 13 | 13 | 9–4 | 353 | 477 | 74.0 | 4,134 | 8.7 | 37 | 10 | 168.2 | 100 | −50 | −0.5 | 4 | |
| Career[35] | 50 | 50 | 36–14 | 1,263 | 1,803 | 70.1 | 14,327 | 7.9 | 134 | 27 | 158.4 | 399 | 29 | 0.1 | 17 | ||
| Height | Weight | Arm length | Hand span | Wingspan | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6 ft1+1⁄2 in (1.87 m) | 212 lb (96 kg) | 31+1⁄2 in (0.80 m) | 9+3⁄8 in (0.24 m) | 6 ft5+3⁄4 in (1.97 m) | ||||||||
| All values fromNFL Combine[36][37] | ||||||||||||
On April 26, 2025, Sanders was selected in the fifth round of the2025 NFL draft by theCleveland Browns with the 144th overall pick.[38] Analysts noted that he was drafted later than expected. One anonymous longtime NFL assistant coach was quoted byNFL Network assessing that Sanders "takes unnecessary sacks. He never plays on time. He has horrible body language. He blames teammates. But the biggest thing is he's not that good."[39] The same anonymous coach called Sanders "entitled" and said that the formal interview with the prospect was the "worst" he had been a part of.[39] Another longtimeAFC executive echoed that sentiment: "It didn't go great in our interview. He wants to dictate what he's going to do and what's best for him. He makes you feel small."[40] Despite the slide, he celebrated being selected by celebrating with his family and was described bySports Illustrated in retrospect as handling the draft "with maturity".[41] On May 19, 2025, he signed a four-year deal with the Browns worth $4.6 million and includes a signing bonus of $447,380.[42]
During the first two days of the draft, aprank caller had obtained the private number for the cellphone given to Sanders by the league to communicate with team managers and coaches. While Sanders had his livestream turned on, the prankster called him, pretending to beNew Orleans Saints general managerMickey Loomis and telling Sanders he would "have to wait a little longer". Days later, the caller was revealed to be the son ofAtlanta Falcons defensive coordinatorJeff Ulbrich.[43] After investigating, the league fined the Falcons $250,000 and Ulbrich $100,000 over the leak of Sanders' phone number.[44]
After serving as a backup for the first nine games of the season, Sanders made his debut in Week 11 against theBaltimore Ravens after fellow rookieDillon Gabriel suffered a concussion. He went 4-of-16 passing for 47 yards and an interception in a 7-point loss.[45] The following week, he made his first start and went 11-of-20 for 209 yards, one touchdown and one interception, in a 24–10 win over theLas Vegas Raiders.[46]
In Week 14, Sanders threw for his first 300+ yard game against theTennessee Titans with 364 yards, completing 23 of 42 passes with 3 passing touchdowns, 1 rushing touchdown, and an interception.[47] After scoring a touchdown to cut the Titans' lead to 31–29 with just over a minute remaining, Sanders was controversially taken out of the game by Browns head coachKevin Stefanski for the potential game-tying two-point conversion attempt in favor for a play out of theWildcat formation, which failed. Cleveland subsequently lost and was eliminated from playoff contention.[48] The following day, Sanders was named starting quarterback for the remainder of the 2025 season.[49] He finished the year with a 3–4 record in seven starts, a 56.6% completion percentage, 1,400 passing yards, seven passing touchdowns, 10 interceptions, and one rushing touchdown.[1] Sanders also had the worst passer rating in the NFL (minimum 200 attempts).[50]
On January 26, 2026, Sanders was added to the2026 Pro Bowl roster as a replacement after several AFC quarterbacks suffered injuries or turned down the invitation.[51][52] Fan voting is also factored into Pro Bowl selections but it is not known how many votes Sanders ended up with.[53] Due to his 2025 statistics, Sanders' selection to the Pro Bowl was met with criticism and comparisons toTyler Huntley's selection in 2022.[52][50] He is the first Cleveland Browns quarterback to be selected to the Pro Bowl sinceDerek Anderson in 2008.[54]
| Year | Team | Games | Passing | Rushing | Sacked | Fumbles | ||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GP | GS | Record | Cmp | Att | Pct | Yds | Y/A | Lng | TD | Int | Rtg | Att | Yds | Y/A | Lng | TD | Sck | SckY | Fum | Lost | ||
| 2025 | CLE | 8 | 7 | 3–4 | 120 | 212 | 56.6 | 1,400 | 6.6 | 66 | 7 | 10 | 68.1 | 21 | 169 | 8.0 | 16 | 1 | 23 | 164 | 2 | 1 |
| Career | 8 | 7 | 3–4 | 120 | 212 | 56.6 | 1,400 | 6.6 | 66 | 7 | 10 | 68.1 | 21 | 169 | 8.0 | 16 | 1 | 23 | 164 | 2 | 1 | |
Sanders's older brother,Shilo, also played college football under their father at Jackson State and Colorado.[55][56] He was signed by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers as anundrafted free agent following the2025 NFL draft.[57]
Sanders released ahip-hop track, "Perfect Timing", in May 2024.[58][59]
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)