Prior to the Ravens' win over the Browns on Sunday, ESPN's Adam Schefter reported that the Ravens were actually planning to draft quarterback Shedeur Sanders in the fifth round of the 2025 NFL draft. While Sanders was expected to go in the first round of the draft, he ended up free-falling to the fifth round.
Though the Ravens planned to take Sanders, he reportedly let them know he didn't want them to draft him because he would then be a backup to Lamar Jackson, with practically no chance at becoming a starter anytime in the near future.
Sanders did not confirm or deny the report after the game, instead saying via Daniel Oyefusi of ESPN, "My response is I'm focused on the now. I don't really talk about anything in the past and whatever happened in the past, it is what it is. I'm more focused on now. I'm more focused on how this game that we just gone and had and figuring out how to move forward from now."
When asked if the report was true, Sanders simply said, "You wouldn't even believe, my memory don't even go back that far. So yeah, I don't even remember anything post-draft. I remember I'm here, I go to practice every day and it's a 24 hour rule. ... It serves no purpose in my life."
Ultimately, the Browns took Sanders in the fifth round, and he is a backup behind Joe Flacco and Dillon Gabriel. Though Sanders has ended up as a backup in Cleveland as well, there is greater opportunity for him to one day emerge as the starter since Flacco, at 40, is not the team's longterm answer. It's unclear how Sanders's career will unfold, but for now, he remains the Browns' third-stringer.
More NFL on Sports Illustrated
This article was originally published on www.si.com as Shedeur Sanders Responds to Report He Didn't Want Ravens to Draft Him.