It took until the fifth round of the 2025 NFL Draft, but the Cleveland Browns finally did it.

They selected Colorado quarterback Shedeur Sanders.

The selection ended the slide of Sanders, who went from being projected as a first-round pick by some to the fifth round, which is normally reserved for “developmental quarterbacks,” not ones who lit up the field on Saturday afternoons the past two seasons.

Sanders enters a quarterback room in Cleveland that, at least for the moment, includes Joe Flacco, Kenny Pickett, third-round selection Dillon Gabriel, and Deshaun Watson, who remains on the roster because his fully guaranteed contract has two years remaining.

It sets up the club for a training camp that will rival, and quite possibly surpass, the one from 2014 when fans and media foolishly gushed over Johnny Manziel.

For the sake of the Browns and the sanity of their fans, the outcome better be different this time.

For now, let’s start the day with the latest edition of the Sunday Dawg Chow.

Dawgs By Nature:

• Cleveland Browns pick QB Shedeur Sanders at No. 144 (Thomas Moore) – The Cleveland Browns swung a trade to move up in the fifth round to pick No. 144. And with that pick, they ended the slide by selecting quarterback Shedeur Sanders from Colorado.
• Browns QB Shedeur Sanders has the upside for Cleveland after huge fall (Jared Mueller) – The Cleveland Browns stopped the fall of QB Shedeur Sanders in the fifth round of the 2025 NFL draft. Sanders, who at one point was seen as a potential pick at the top of the draft and the first quarterback off the board, fell far beyond even his biggest detractors. Some, like ESPN’s Mel Kiper Jr., believed Sanders was the best QB in this year’s draft but the league showed him something else.
• Browns QB depth chart: Shedeur Sanders, Dillon Gabriel added to 3 veterans (Jared Mueller) – After the NFL draft, the Browns have the most interesting QB room in the NFL but the depth chart has a lot to prove.
• Shedeur Sanders projected fifth-round contract with the Browns (Chris Pokorny) – How much did Shedeur Sanders’ fall from grace to the fifth round impact his NFL salary, while also benefiting the Browns?
• Browns – Undrafted Free Agent tracker of players signed after 2025 NFL draft (Chris Pokorny) – The 2025 NFL Draft might be close to ending, but the fun hasn’t ended yet. The media, along with the players themselves, are about to start reporting on the undrafted free agents who teams are trying to sign. Listed below will be players who have been rumored to have been contacted and signed by the Cleveland Browns. Also, use this as an open thread to discuss any players we sign, or who you want signed.
• Grading the Browns picking Shedeur Sanders in the fifth round (David Fucillo) – The Cleveland Browns picked their second quarterback of the 2025 NFL Draft and it’s arguably the most high-profile one. Time to grade the Shedeur Sanders pick.
• Sheduer Sanders reacts to being drafted by the Browns (Jared Mueller) – With many expecting him to be selected two days ago, new Browns QB Shedeur Sanders reacts to being picked
• Everything you need to know about Shedeur Sanders, the Browns new QB (Michael Peterson) – Nobody would have been surprised if Colorado quarterback Shedeur Sanders had come off the board in Rounds 1 or 2, but we’re all the way into Round 5, and he was still on the board. The Cleveland Browns carpe diemed it and swapped picks with the Seahawks to select Sanders at No. 144 overall. Here’s everything you need to know.
• 2 key Browns relationships with Deion Sanders should help Shedeur Sanders, team (Jared Mueller) – Deion Sanders will always loom for his son Shedeur Sanders, but with the Browns, that could be good.
• Cleveland Browns pick RB Dylan Sampson at No. 126 (Chris Pokorny) – With the No. 126 pick of the 2025 NFL Draft in the fourth round, the Cleveland Browns selected RB Dylan Sampson (5-8, 201 lbs) from Tennessee. It’s the first of the team’s three Day 3 picks.
• Dylan Sampson brings above-average patience and vision to Cleveland (Matt Wilson) – Dylan Sampson was only a one-year starter for the Tennessee Volunteers, but he exploded onto the scene in 2024 with his above-average vision and stop-start ability at the line of scrimmage. He finished the year with nearly 1500 rushing yards and 22 touchdowns as the team’s workhorse back.
• Browns roster: Starting 25 after Day 2 of the NFL Draft (Jared Mueller) – The Cleveland Browns entered the 2025 NFL draft with a lot of needs and, despite a very questionable selection at the end of the third round, have come away with potentially four starters for the 2025 Browns roster. The Cleveland depth chart is far from perfect, but it has a defensive front that can be the identity of the team while giving whoever plays quarterback two important weapons.
• NFL draft: Browns QB Dillon Gabriel talks about height limitations, Marcus Mariota, more (Barry Shuck) – In this article, I am discussing the Cleveland Browns selection of QB Dillon Gabriel from Oregon while you and I are sitting on the porch drinking a cold one, while my famous hamburger recipe is on the grill along with some ears of corn. And if you happen to like your cooked beef a certain way, that’s just too bad because they all come off at the same time. This ain’t no restaurant.
• Browns 2025 NFL draft class: From Mason Graham to Shedeur Sanders; Browns 7 new players (Jared Mueller) – The Cleveland Browns started the NFL Draft with a lot of later picks but moved around and ended up with 7 selections in the top 5 rounds.
• Browns continue “smartest guys in the room” thing with another late 3rd Rd pick (Jared Mueller) – “Dillon Gabriel, really?” That might have been the nicest version of the same question received and sent by many around the Cleveland Browns on Day 2 of the 2025 NFL draft. A quarterback that many thought would be the eighth or ninth one off the board, and sometime late on Saturday, was drafted late in the third round.
• Mason Graham trade results: Tracking all the picks (Matt Warren) – The full results of the Mason Graham and Travis Hunter trade.
• How did the national media view the Browns work on Day 2 of the draft? (Thomas Moore) – The Cleveland Browns were busy Friday night during Rounds 2 and 3 of the 2025 NFL Draft. Let’s take a run through what some of the national media had to say about the work that general manager Andrew Berry did on Friday night.
• Browns achieve quirky NFL Draft first (Thomas Moore) – Cleveland is the first team in the Common Draft Era to do this!
• Results from the Dustin Hopkins trade (Matt Warren) – The Browns’ trade for Dustin Hopkins concluded at the 2025 NFL Draft.
• The Donovan People-Jones trade finally wraps up at 2025 NFL draft (Rohan Chakravarthi) -Way back in 2023, the Cleveland Browns traded Donovan Peoples-Jones. That trade compensation finalized this weekend.

Cleveland Browns:

• Guess what the Browns are going back to? (Terry Pluto) – Do I think there are reasons to be upbeat about the Browns’ offseason and the overall approach to the draft? Let’s answer that question like this … “Tough, Smart & Accountable” are back.
• Cleveland Browns pick RB Dylan Sampson in Round 4 of NFL draft: Fit, scouting report (Beacon Journal) – The Cleveland Browns drafted University of Tennessee running back Dylan Sampson with the No. 126 pick of the 2025 NFL Draft. Sampson was the 12th running back taken in the draft. Here’s what Browns fans need to know about Sampson in our instant analysis of the pick.
• How did Shedeur Sanders slide from potential first-rounder to fifth-round pick in NFL Draft? A timeline (The Athletic) – Shedeur Sanders’ slide from potential first-round pick to being selected in the fifth round with the 144th pick by the Cleveland Browns has been the story of the 2025 NFL Draft. But Sanders, the former Colorado quarterback and son of NFL great Deion Sanders, is already quite familiar with the spotlight.
• The Browns’ stunning Shedeur Sanders pick makes perfect sense, actually (cleveland.com) – I’ve covered the Cleveland Browns since Oct. 2021. I am from Northeast Ohio and grew up a Browns fan. I genuinely believed there wasn’t much left that could surprise me.
• Why Cleveland Browns drafted Shedeur Sanders and what’s next (ESPN) – One of the shocking slides in NFL draft history ended in the fifth round as the Cleveland Browns traded their 166th and 192nd picks to the Seattle Seahawks to select Colorado quarterback Shedeur Sanders with the 144th overall choice on Saturday. Sanders’ arrival comes at an inflection point for the Browns’ franchise.
• Browns’ need for a QB took awhile to fill (Browns Zone) – Friday night was Part 2 of the Mel Kiper Invitational and Part 2 of the Browns’ latest attempt to, well, supposedly, anyway, make their team better. Time will tell on how well the Browns drafted, but if you go strictly by what history tells us, well, let’s just say, how about those Guardians!

NFL: