Cleveland Browns: Shedeur Sanders Has Lofty Goals as Training Camp Approaches
The quarterback competition between Shedeur Sanders and Deshaun Watson will be closely watched once NFL training camps begin.
Sanders plans to win the battle and says that’s only the beginning.
“I’m not content just being on no team,” Sanders said on his You Tube Channel, via Pro Football Talk. “I’m trying to be one of the greatest. You’ve got to be thankful, but know there’s still more.”
Sanders and Watson are trying to silence naysayers. After a productive college career at Jackson State and Colorado, Sanders unexpectedly plummeted to the fifth round of the 2025 draft.
He was inconsistent after claiming the Browns’ starting job late last season, completing 57% of his passes for 1,400 yards with seven touchdowns and 10 interceptions while being sacked 23 times. He finished his rookie season with a 3-4 record as a starter.
Watson was once of the NFL’s top quarterbacks with the Houston Texans, leading the league in passing yards in 2020. However, Watson’s career has nosedived since his 11-game suspension in 2022 for violating the league’s personal conduct policy. He has played just 19 games in four seasons with Cleveland, completing just over 61% of his passes for 3,365 yards with 19 touchdowns and 12 interceptions. He tore his right Achilles tendon in Oct. 2024 and re-tore it the following January, causing him to miss the entire 2025 season.
The Browns finished 5-12 last season, but Sanders said he never stopped competing. Cleveland won its last two games, including a 13-6 victory over the Pittsburgh Steelers in Week 17. Gaining confidence as the season progressed, Sanders hopes to build off that momentum.
“We were playing the Steelers. Their linebackers were hitting that game,” Sanders said. “I’m on the pine the whole year. You get out there you’re like, ‘This is something. I could do something like this.'”