It feels like only yesterday the New York Giants were heading into draft night with the third overall pick and endless possibilities. Travis Hunter, Abdul Carter, Jaxson Dart, and Shedeur Sanders were all seemingly in play.
The G-Men went with Carter, then traded back into the first round with the Texans to select Dart 25th overall. Just like that, in one round, Big Blue had its next best pass rusher and its next franchise quarterback. With Hunter going No. 2 overall, that just left Sanders, beginning what would be an unforeseeable slide.
The sliding stopped when the Browns selected the 23-year-old in the fifth round with the 144th pick. His fall was due to perceived maturity and character concerns, along with a lack of preparation during pre-draft meetings. Scouts also weren’t exactly convinced of his arm talent or decision-making.
Well, scouts weren’t the only ones who weren’t sold on Sanders. Let’s just say Browns owner Jimmy Haslam didn’t exactly offer a glowing endorsement either.
Even Jimmy Haslam is trying to distance himself from the Sanders pick
When speaking to the media about the Browns' draft selection, Haslam couldn't have separated himself from general manager Andrew Berry any more even if he tried.
"At the end of the day, that's Andrew Berry's call," Haslam said. "Andrew made the call to pick Shedeur."
#Browns Jimmy Haslam stresses that Shedeur Sanders was Andrew Berry’s pick, not his. pic.twitter.com/sD3yQYwSq8
— Mary Kay Cabot (@MaryKayCabot) July 29, 2025
The comments come on the heels of a rough training camp for the fifth-rounder. Sanders, who entered camp on the outside looking in, hasn’t done much to move up the depth chart. Joe Flacco, Kenny Pickett, and fellow rookie Dillon Gabriel are all in front of him, with Flacco and Pickett getting the majority of the first-team reps.
Even after Pickett went down with a minor hamstring injury, Gabriel has been the beneficiary of the extra reps, not Sanders. All of this is to say that Sanders started as QB4 and hasn’t done much in training camp to warrant moving up any higher. It seems he started a bit further back than originally anticipated coming out of Colorado, which should give the G-Men tons of reassurance that they drafted the right guy.
Meanwhile, Dart has been performing well at camp. For the most part, he’s been as advertised. He’s excelled particularly well in the intermediate passing game, and his deep ball accuracy has also flashed.
It looks like things are really starting to slow down for the 22-year-old. He’s already making better decisions and looking more comfortable in an offense that’s headed by the molders of Josh Allen and Patrick Mahomes. It’s encouraging.
Haslam might not have meant to back the Giants or throw his own GM under the bus, but that’s more or less what happened. Sanders is buried on the Browns’ depth chart, Dart’s trending up, and now even the team that drafted Shedeur seems to be second-guessing it. Whether he realized it or not, Haslam might’ve just given Joe Schoen the best kind of validation.