Colorado quarterback Shedeur Sanders and his father, Deion, have seemingly promoted a link to the Browns in the coming draft.
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Editor's note: Tony Grossi is a Cleveland Browns analyst for TheLandOnDemand.com and 850 ESPN Cleveland. He has covered the Browns since 1984.
Takeaways from the NFL silly season …
It’s suspicious how a connection to the Browns seemingly is being promoted by Deion and Shedeur Sanders.
* On Tuesday, a short video was Tweeted by @WellOffMedia showing a conversation about the Madden NFL25 video game between Shedeur Sanders and two other men while Sanders in sitting on a couch and eating food.
Sanders asks, “Who you play with?” A voice answers, “I don’t even play Madden.”
“You know who I play with?” Sanders interjects.
Another voice answers, “I can play with anybody. He could play with only one team.”
“What team?” Sanders asks.
The third voice answers, “The Browns.”
Sanders says, “OK … OK. I like how they move around. I like how they move around on there. I like the set-up.”
And that was it.
The video, lasting 36 seconds, was posted on X by @WellOffMedia1, which apparently is the X account of Well Of Media, which is a content site founded by Deion Sanders Jr., according to the bio.
* On February 11, the same X account posted a video of Sanders mingling with former teammates and coaches at Colorado while working out. In one scene, Sanders is in the weight room talking with a trainer.
“The 30 visits start, like, March 4,” Sanders says.
“You know your first one yet?” the trainer asks.
“Browns. I got the Browns. Then Giants. That’s the only two, like, right now.”
* On January 28, multiple media companies reported the Browns were moving senior offensive assistant Bill Musgrave to the position of quarterbacks coach. About that time, a video surfaced of Deion Sanders responding to a question about his favorite Super Bowl memory.
Sanders proceeds to tell the story of Musgrave, then a backup quarterback on Sanders’ San Francisco Super Bowl team of 1994, getting the chance to play in the final moments of the 49ers’ rout of the San Diego Chargers.
Sanders referred to him as Billy Musgrave.
“Billy worked his butt off, prepared us, really got us right, but he never played because of Steve Young. During the Super Bowl, I go to George Seifert and say, ‘Put Billy in.’ And he put Billy in and Billy got to throw a pass and Billy got to play in a Super Bowl. That’s my fondest Super Bowl memory. That Billy got to play, man”
The video was actually from the 2024 Super Bowl.
Sanders told the same story in a 2023 appearance on Shannon Sharpe’s podcast Club Shay Shay.
* On January 25, Shedeur Sanders disclosed at the Shrine Bowl practices, in which he did not participate, that he had met with representatives of the top three teams in the draft – the Titans, Browns and Giants.
So what does it all mean?
Previously, Deion had indicated that he had a list of teams that he did not want to draft Shedeur, and it was presumed the Browns were on the list.
Since those comments made on various podcasts, it seems the Sanders’ – and the Browns -- are intent on dispelling the notion that Deion would block the Browns from drafting him.
In an interview with reporters at Senior Bowl practices in Mobile, AL, on January 29, Browns GM Andrew Berry said, “Shedeur is a really impressive young man. He’s poised, he’s calm, he’s smart, and you can tell that he’s been raised by -- quite honestly -- a Hall of Fame dad. We’re going to get to know him even more over the course of the spring, but he’s really impressive.”
Asked about the possibility of Deion objecting to the Browns, Berry said, “I don’t anticipate that being a problem.”
None of the quarterbacks in the coming draft have been as active on social media and in interviews as Shedeur. And the fact the Browns keep coming up on his content is, well, odd.
Now, there was one time in this process when Shedeur may have slipped and revealed his preferred draft destination.
In an interview during the telecast of the Shrine Bowl in AT&T Stadium, home of the Dallas Cowboys, Sanders said, “Being in this stadium is definitely fun. I know I’ll play here very soon against the Cowboys.”
The Browns aren’t scheduled to visit the Cowboys until the 2028 season. The New York Giants, of course, play the Cowboys every year, at home and on the road. The Giants currently own the No. 3 overall pick – a notch below the Browns.