Shedeur Sanders did everything in his college career to build a solid draft stock. A historic 9-win season and elite efficiency, but that didn’t help him. He slid to 144th overall. At the Browns, the former Colorado QB was 4th on the depth chart during the preseason. But he persevered. Shedeur was there in Boulder recently to talk to the current Colorado team, and the Buffs’ offensive coordinator picked on what makes their former QB different.

“How many guys that are disrespected in the way he was drafted, where he was put to be 4th on the depth chart, no reps, and then go in there and win games?” Colorado OC Brennan Marion said on the June 26 episode of the Thee Pregame Network podcast. “Just to see his work habits. To see a guy running on his own, lifting on his own, bringing a receiver with him to throw to. And still doing all the techniques, working like there’s a coach right beside him. He felt that pressure, rose to the occasion.”

Shedeur Sanders had a challenging task in his rookie year. Dillon Gabriel and Joe Flacco were ahead of him in the depth chart. Initially, he wasn’t even practicing with the second team; we saw him practicing with the equipment staff. Even then, Shedeur didn’t budge. He put in those reps every day, talked to coaches, and vowed to beat the odds. When Dillon Gabriel went down with a concussion, Shedeur seized that opportunity.

“I just loved his intelligence, ability to look at a play and then to tell the guys like he never even went through the play,” Brennan Marion said about Shedeur’s interaction with the current Colorado roster. “Because of his football awareness and his FPI of knowing the game, he was able to talk to them. Like this is why Coach has an alert here. This is why the read is this way. This is why you should think about the one-on-one, and based off what they’re doing on defense, like look at the receiver, and the leverage with which the corner is playing… I got to give props to 2 from the standpoint of life.”

Shedeur led the Browns to 3 wins as the QB1 last year, passing for 1,400 yards in the process. Those performances also helped him seal a place on the Pro Bowl team, and this year, he returns to get that QB1 job again. The only problem, though, is the Browns’ veteran QB DeShaun Watson, who is finally fit and is tied with a $230 million contract with the team. Despite that, Shedeur is giving him tough competition even amid trade rumors.

Shedeur Sanders trade rumors get a new twist

So far, head coach Todd Monken hasn’t declared a QB1, and both Shedeur and Watson can win the job. The head coach has set fall camp as the realistic timeline for declaring a winner. However, recently, ESPN’s Tony Rizzo relayed that the Browns are planning to trade Shedeur, and there were “talks” and “ongoing calls” regarding his availability. But now there’s a twist in that news.

“Anything out there about like they’re looking to trade him, I would put zero stock in that,” NFL Network analyst Tom Pelissero said about the rumors. “If I were sitting here right now, June 24, and had to make an educated guess, I’d say he and Deshaun Watson are both on the team in September and quite possibly both play.”

With trade rumors fading, Sanders has a strong chance to win the QB battle. While Watson may start the 2026 season, a few failures could increase the noise from the fan base about seeing Shedeur in action.