It looks like Shedeur Sanders just can’t catch a break. The Athletic’s Mike Sando recently dropped his quarterback tier rankings and placed the Cleveland Browns’ second-year quarterback dead last at No. 35. Per Sando, the voter pool of NFL executives “placed 35 veteran quarterbacks into five tiers, from best (Tier 1) to worst (Tier 5).” The average of these rankings determined the final standings. But the 35th spot wasn’t the biggest snub for Shedeur.

A defensive coordinator actually noted, “I’d sleep like a baby if I got to play him every week.” Another NFL exec went a step further, calling Shedeur’s accuracy into question.

“He’s inaccurate at all three levels,” the exec noted. “I can’t tell if he is going to get better, but there’s a huge gap between him and competent QB play.”

Critics would point to the rough start Sanders got in 2025 – eight games, seven starts, a 3-4 record, seven touchdowns and ten interceptions. But none of this captures the fact that Shedeur didn’t get first-team reps all season and was pushed onto the field only when the Browns had exhausted all other options. Sanders naturally struggled, getting sacked 23 times, losing 164 yards and a lot of momentum in the process behind a porous O-line. Those stat lines are what execs keep going back to.

“He’s not an on-time player, can’t really read through the coverages, is a little bit heavy-footed,” another defensive coordinator added. “He is thicker and harder to tackle than expected, but you shouldn’t lose to him.”

Now, if you look at how Shedeur Sanders has attacked this offseason, I’m not sure if that argument holds up. Under new head coach Todd Monken, Shedeur has worked on his speed, accuracy, and reads to impress the coaches in Cleveland. In the first week of training camp, Shedeur completed 64 of 91 passes (70.3%) with four touchdowns and one interception.

His veteran counterpart, Deshaun Watson, struggled with accuracy, throwing six picks against just three touchdowns. At the start of the offseason, multiple reports suggested Watson would win the starting job, but Shedeur seems to have made it a personal mission to flip that narrative on its head.

Even his father, the legendary Deion ‘Coach Prime’ Sanders, finally visited Todd Monken to talk about how to bring the best out of the 24-year-old signal-caller. This was something the previous regime never thought to do, but as Monken noted, he’s “got some good insights from Deion Sanders on Shedeur.” Sanders was already separating himself in the QB battle before Coach Prime dropped his pearls of wisdom. As for the executives dragging Shedeur to No. 35, not all of the feedback is bad.

“If Shedeur has really invested in himself to be a professional quarterback, studying the playbook and knowing his assignments and being able to get the offense in and out of the huddle at an efficient clip, which he could not do last year, then there might be some upside,” one voter said.

“I thought he was all right, better than expected,” one head coach said. “They did a good job with him of making the game simple. And I thought Shedeur played with a chip on his shoulder.”

That chip on Shedeur Sanders’ shoulder has only grown bigger and heavier as this offseason inches closer to the preseason. The quarterback battle remains undecided, but the belief inside the building is that the team will lock in their QB1 by Week 1 of the regular season. To that effect, all this 35th rank in the worst quarterback tier does is add fuel to Sanders’ 2026 campaign. He’s still on that mission to prove himself right, and he couldn’t have asked for a better rank to rise from.