Ravens wanted to draft Shedeur Sanders for one specific purpose, and it had nothing to do with Lamar Jackson originally appeared on The Sporting News
The Baltimore Ravens reportedly wanted to draft Shedeur Sanders at the 2025 NFL draft this past April with the No. 141 pick after his multiple-round slide as a projected first-round selection.
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Sanders didn’t want the Ravens, or, more specifically, the chance to back up Lamar Jackson, as ESPN’s Adam Schefter made clear.
“A consensus had been headed. The Baltimore Ravens were planning to select Shedeur Sanders in the fifth round with the 141st overall selection. But, when he found out, he got word back to the Ravens that he preferred not to go to a place where he’d be competing and backing up Lamar Jackson. He wanted to be in a place that he could play,” Schefter said, per On3.
“When the Ravens got that message, they pivoted, went a different direction with the 141st overall selection. And three picks later, the Cleveland Browns selected Shedeur Sanders, who will be in Baltimore today, where he could have been spending his NFL career if he were willing to back up Lamar Jackson.”
As it turns out, Baltimore wasn’t primarily interested in Sanders being Jackson’s, or anyone’s backup for that matter. Instead, they wanted to draft the Colorado Buffaloes football legend and develop him into a potential trade chip.
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As The Athletic’s Jeff Zrebiec and Zac Jackson revealed through their reporting, Baltimore’s front office hesitated at the draft to make sure Sanders actually wanted to be a Raven. They found out he had no interest in any arrangement in the DMV.
“The Ravens were buying time for themselves because they were trying to reach Sanders and see if he would be OK with them taking him. They weren’t going to take Sanders if he didn’t want to be there, and it would become a distraction,” Zrebiec and Jackson wrote.
“Baltimore, which hadn’t prioritized using many assets to fill the backup quarterback role, signed veteran backup Cooper Rush in mid-March to a two-year, $6.2 million deal. However, they are always looking to add a young developmental quarterback into their program, and they had solid draft grades on Sanders.
“They figured that at the very least, Sanders would be an inexpensive and talented insurance policy for Jackson. And if Sanders played extremely well in the preseason, they’d have a potential trade chip for a quarterback-needy team.”
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One wonders if that’s what Cleveland Browns GM Andrew Berry truly drafted Sanders for. It’s clear the “Grown QB” isn’t a priority for them either. There didn’t seem to be a fit for Sanders across the NFL in April, but front offices wanted Shedeur to convince a different team that he was their man while employing him.
A bold strategy that certainly hasn’t paid off for the 0-2 Browns after a summer filled with toxic discourse surrounding their organization.