Cleveland Browns quarterback Shedeur Sanders (12) warms up before the game against the Detroit Lions at Ford Field in Detroit on Sept. 28, 2025.

Although there is no way to actually prove/disprove this, it kind of feels like the negative momentum of NFL Draft night is carrying over to the regular season for Shedeur Sanders. On Wednesday, we learned that the Cleveland Browns are now ready to move on from Joe Flacco as their starting quarterback (which we all expected to happen at some point this season), but it's not Sanders who is getting the call.

Instead the starting gig is going to Dillon Gabriel, and Flacco will now serve as the backup. So Sanders remains QB3 on the depth chart for the time being, and there are no indications that he'll be seeing the field any time soon. So how did we get here?

Why is a guy who came into the draft such a highly heralded prospect still buried down on the depth chart in midseason?

The public perception of Sanders took a major hit on draft night, as he was sliding from the first to the fifth round. We then soon learned that he didn't exactly ace his interviews with individual teams. He apparently developed a reputation as a guy who seemed somewhat entitled and maybe even a bit full of himself. So much so that he seems to be having trouble changing hearts and minds right now.

Illinois senior guard Josh Gesky said something this preseason that was not related to Sanders, at all, but perfectly applied to the former Colorado quarterback's current situation.

"Don't get too full of yourself at the end of the day- that stuff's not going to get you drafted," Gesky said in an exclusive with RG.org. "Your play is going to get you drafted. So I think that being the same guy, working on the fundamentals, the same stuff in high school- don't throw stuff away that works, you know."

That advice is not just relevant for football, or the NFL Draft process, but life in general as well/ Sanders, whether it's fair or unfair, has developed a reputation for being somewhat high on himself.

Last week the Browns rookie made some remarks that, at face value, seem pretty alright: “If you see the quarterback play in the league right now, I know I’m capable of doing better than that."

Those comments widely circulated, and many, including former NFL head coach Rex Ryan, took them the wrong way.

"This kid talks and he runs his mouth," Ryan said while appearing on the ESPN talk show Get Up.

"Like he said, 'I can be a starting quarterback' with his arms crossed like this. Get your ass in the front row and study and do all that. If I know, the whole league knows. Quit being an embarrassment that way. You've got the talent to be the quarterback, you should be. You should be embarrassed that you're not the quarterback now."

Honestly, if you heard Sanders' quote, from a backup QB with a more humble reputation, you might not think much of it.

If Gabriel said it, it might not be cast as "running his mouth," but just conveying confidence in his abilities, which is certainly something that you would want a NFL QB to have. If Gabriel said it, Ryan would have not have reacted like that.

This article originally appeared on Draft Wire: Shedeur Sanders, thus far, is not having the kind of rookie season that he hoped for

Reporting by Paul M. Banks, Draft Wire / Draft Wire

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