Shedeur Sanders shades NFL draft critics after Browns selection

The Browns will be hoping that Shedeur Sanders is motivated by his astonishing slide down the NFL Draft that saw him go in the fifth round after being projected in the first.

To hear Sanders tell it, he is.

“I’m here ready to work,” Sanders told reporters in his first availability after going 144th overall on Saturday. “The opportunity to see the real me and not stuff that might not be true.”

Shedeur Sanders has been drafted by the Cleveland Browns. Icon Sportswire via Getty Images

That feels like a not-so-veiled allusion to the criticism Sanders has taken over the last couple days, much of it relating to his atтιтude and off-field persona, which has taken immense heat.

“I’m a Sanders, so there’s always gonna be expectations regardless of what pick I am,” Sanders said.

It appears that the way Sanders interviewed with teams coupled with the cultivating of attention that the Sanders family as a whole has done in the last few years was a major contributor in turning teams off from drafting him.

It culminated in Sanders, who at one point was projected as the first pick in the draft, waiting three days to be picked.

“Nothing really affected me the last couple days. I’m blessed,” Sanders said. “The love of the game is still the game. I know I have to clean up some things in my game to be at my best. The main thing is proving [coach Kevin] Stefanski and [GM Andrew] Berry right about picking me.”

Shedeur Sanders was selected in Round 5 in the 2025 NFL Draft. Getty Images

With Cleveland currently carrying five quarterbacks, and having drafted Dillon Gabriel in the third round ahead of Sanders, a roster spot looks to be no guarantee. Sanders told reporters that cornerback Denzel Ward and quarterback Kenny Pickett have already reached out to him.

“Get there, handle my business, do what I have to do,” Sanders said. “Whatever role that is, I’m just happy for the opportunity because that’s all I can ask for. The rest is on me.”

Follow The Post’s live coverage of the 2025 NFL Draft

Sanders was elated after being picked, doing a jig on his livestream and thanking the Browns organization to cheers from his draft party.

“I’m so excited I heard this,” he said, before playing ESPN’s theme music for a pick being sent in.

“I would say I’m extremely grateful for the opportunity throughout everything,” Sanders told reporters. “I don’t ever focus on the negative. For me it’s just playing QB, that’s what it’s all about.

“… I know what it’s gonna require for me to come out on top.”