QB Shedeur Sanders (5.10.25)
What did you think of your first day on the field yesterday?
“I think there is a lot of stuff personally I could work on, but overall, as a team, I think we came out with great energy. Everybody was working very hard, very fast and being very efficient.”
Tom Brady talked about sending you a message after the draft. So what did you take away from his advice to you?
“That my story is going to be similar. I was a late round draft pick, but we’re here now, so none of that stuff matters. That just mattered on the day and I’m just excited to be here and ready to work.”
I know it’s early, but have you been able to gravitate towards someone or attach yourself to someone in this building in your time here already?
“It’s only really rookies in the building right now and all of them are real cool and they have great personalities. So, I’m glad to have that team bonding and that team chemistry back. Being on your own with pro day and with the combine and everything is more individual for that. So being around that team environment I’ll say is the best right now.”
Shedeur, not many rookies or draft picks have the opportunity to have the President of the United States going to bat for you in the middle of the draft. So, what was that like for you?
“I was truly thankful. I was truly thankful for it, including him. There’s a lot of fans, a lot of people in barber shops, a lot of hairstylists. There’s a lot of just fans of me and of my craft and of my family that were there to support. So, I was just thankful that I have that foundation overall, just as people and we all could come together as one.”
You have incredible popularity. You’re just starting your career immensely popular. Why do you think that is?
“Why do you think?”
You’re Likable
“Well, yeah, I guess that’s what it is. I just be myself every day. You know, I can’t control what’s external, I can only control what’s internal.”
With that Shedeur, how do you block all this stuff out and be a football player?
“By doing what my dad raised me to do since I was like five years old. You know, I’ve seen it, I’ve seen what he was able to do. And I have a lot of great resources and mentors, you know, to keep me on the right track and especially coming to this building, we have great coaches in the building able to, you know, keep me focused, keep me in a straight, narrow line.”
What’s the balance between knowing you’re competing and wanting to be the starter here for a long time, but also being right here, just getting started?
“Well, of course it’s day by day. I just find something I want to perfect and just perfect it to the best of my abilities and that’s all I really focus on, just being there, just being a leader, being a great teammate, doing what I need to do whenever it is. So I’m just thankful for our opportunity. Things could have been a lot worse, but I’m here smiling in front of you all at this facility right now.”
Sheduer, what’s your interactions been like with Dillon (Gabriel) since you guys have gotten in the building together?
“Cool. Yeah, even normal. He’s a real cool guy overall. Yeah, you could tell he always have a great mood. You know, he’s always in a good mood. I only been around two days though, but he always has a great mood. But overall, I could tell, you know, he’s a pretty good person.”
How do you come in here, you know, just from a mental standpoint in your approach, fifth round pick, they did draft Dillon two rounds in front of you. You and you come into basically a four-man quarterback competition for potentially a starting job in your rookie year.
“I just feel like in life and everything, it’s just me versus me, you know. I can’t control any other decision besides that. So, I just try to be my best self at all times.”
Shedeur, can you talk about the community work you’ve done so far here since you’ve gotten to Cleveland?
“Yeah. So, typically, every state I go to, I don’t really be on social [media] like that. I got people that just run it for me and stuff. So, what I find fun and interesting, and it’s just joy to me is just going to those high schools, middle schools, and just, you know, engaging with the younger kids because their mind’s not corrupted of other people’s opinions. So, that’s why I find joy and happiness going to different schools and being able just to talk to them and see the joy on their face because they follow the journey. So, even through everything, whenever it was going crazy, wild, negative, everything, my happiness was going there. So, that’s what I always resort to. I always send pizza to their school and show them that I’m still able to connect with them, they are still able to connect with me, and eventually I was supposed to get on the game with them also. But I don’t have my game out here right now.”
That was a plan, regardless of the slide, right?
“Yeah. All you gotta do is just look it up. You’ll see the history. I don’t do anything for PR. Anywhere I go, you know, cameras will come. So it’s not really nothing I typically try to do. It’s just, you know, my life and just what it came with.”
It seems like you have really kept your head up, you’ve kept your spirits up. You always have a smile on your face. Even in the wake of tumbling to the fifth round of the draft on. So how have you been able to do that? I mean, you just didn’t let this take you down.
“I mean, you just gotta step back and look at life like you’re in a great situation overall that you able to be healthy. You know, that’s one thing going through – you know, even with my brother going through an injury and my pops and everybody in the family. You value life and you value opportunity and just waking up every day a different way. So that’s kind of why there’s nothing for me to really – no matter what, in any situation, I can’t really be phased by it. You know, it’s like playing quarterback. You go down there, you may have not scored the whole game, but then when it gets to that final two minutes and it’s time to lock in extra, you can’t be in your feelings, you can’t be down about anything. You know, you still got another chance.”
You said the kids, you like the kids because their minds aren’t corrupted. What do you mean by that?
“Corrupted as in they don’t care about other people’s opinion of you. They go based off their own. 99% of hatred is, you know, towards Pops. And then I’m just, you know, I’m just his son. So, it really just come from that. And I told him that too [laughter]. But, you know, it just comes from him. But then, you know, they didn’t grow up in an era to where they watch him play. So, they don’t have anything too much negative, whether they say flashy, this, this this. It’s just the older generation that do it to me rather than the younger people. Because when I come in person, there’s no negativity I see. But it’s all over online. So that’s why I say I like going in person and actually meeting them and any questions they have, I say, just ask me whatever question you want. Pick any question. No filter, no anything. That’s what they say. And then I just answer whatever they need me to answer. But the most question they asked me was just like, how is it mentally going through all this? And I just told him it’s just like playing quarterback. So, I can’t be phased by it.”
I know your dad in the pre-draft process had said, like with everything you’ve dealt with, with attention and scrutiny, that you’re very well prepared in his opinion, to take on everything that comes with being in the NFL. Just what has that been like, I guess, throughout your life and how has he helped you navigate that, especially these last few years?
“I say definitely, he gave us the spotlight to be able to do that. So, he gave us the opportunity. That’s all you can ask for in anybody’s job, in anybody’s profession is just an opportunity to get a chance. The rest after that is on you. So, I’m taking every snap out there, you know? I’m getting up after these hits. I’m the one throwing touchdowns. I’m the one, you know, gotta live it day by day. So that’s all he gave us was the opportunity and we had to navigate and see what we are about. And that’s how I study people, honestly. I study people, see how they handle certain things, see what they do, see different people’s tendencies when it’s going on. You won’t ever really be able to tell when I’m frustrated and when I’m not feeling good or anything because I watch – even self-reflecting. Even just on sidelines and stuff, I feel like I could have handled better situations because it was misunderstood by the masses. But I understood, but I don’t want anybody to form negative opinions about me. It’s something I could change. So, I just took that type of leadership ability within myself to not give that vibe off and not give off that different type of aesthetic of negativity.”
When you say watching people, like, do you just mean like in general or teammates or…?
“No, watching people as in like other successful people. It’s not just the position. I say it’s just everybody in life because, like people in life they go through different challenges. But it’s similar. So, if it’s a financial guy and his business is crashing or something, like, how is he throughout those moments? You know, like, is he frantic? Like, is he out of character? So that’s why whenever you seen the draft and all that stuff happen, I was… And everything was live. So, I was normal. I’m normal throughout everything because all it is, is what’s the next step? So, I was just thinking, you know, what’s next?
When you got that phone call, your family friend said that you kind of just let it roll right off your back. You went into throwing the football right after. Where does that mindset come?
“Well, I jumped in the pool. But I don’t even try to think about that day because – I got practice, you know, so all that stuff was cool for that time, but now, you know, I got practice. I gotta learn the playbook.”
How has it been learning the playbook?
“We’re on day two.”
How is it different compared to Colorado and Jackson State?
“Well, of course it’s the league, so, you know, it’s longer, of course. But learning. I feel like I’m on track, like how you feel like any day two system.”
Can you see how it would be hard for someone like Dillon (Gabriel) to share a quarterback room with you, given all of your popularity?
“I just live in my own perspective. I don’t live in other people’s perspective of what how somebody would feel over anything. You know, I don’t feel any type of way as a person in anybody’s situation. Like if it’s something I like, I respect it. You know, I don’t have any type of negativity or hate in my thought process. So, I don’t know how to answer that question truthfully.”
Shedeur, you had said things could have been worse. You’re healthy, you’re blessed, you’re happy to be here. But as a guy who even people in this building, other places have said you don’t have day three talent. So, what’s the mindset now as far as the opportunity that’s in front of you as far as proving the type of NFL quarterback you could be?
“I mean, thank you for saying that. My job here isn’t to prove people wrong, it’s to prove myself right and I fully have self-belief, you know, and what those people say, that’s just their opinion. So, I don’t truly care. They don’t really live in my mental space about that type of stuff. It really doesn’t do anything for me.”
The Cavs (Cleveland Cavaliers) showed you some love and some support throughout this process and just wondering, have you caught Cavs fever a little bit? What do you think of Donovan Mitchell and do you think you can get yourself down to one of these games and join in on some of the fun?
“Yeah. So of course I want to go to the game, but I gotta of course bring some teammates with me. So, we’re gonna see, hopefully they make it down the stretch and then we’ll be able to catch one, you know, with a lot of teammates. A lot of stuff for me don’t excite me anymore personally. So, I like having an atmosphere like friends, family around and being able to share the same experience with them. So, I haven’t really – I seen the one yesterday. But like I said, I was focused on the playbook. I couldn’t watch the game, so that, that was pretty much it. But I respect everything they’re doing. And the downtown, the poster is real nice down there. That’s really cool. Yeah, I’m just excited to be here.”
I know you couldn’t get (No.) 2, but did you take 12 just because of (Tom) Brady? Can you explain how you chose it?
“It was the best available number for me. That was it.”
Will you try to buy (No.) 2 from DeAndre (Carter)?
“No, I’m not trying to buy anything. My signing bonus ain’t that high right now.”