Browns owner Jimmy Haslam seems to have plausible deniability in case Shedeur Sanders doesn’t pan out.

Haslam spoke Tuesday on Sanders and Cleveland’s thought process in drafting him with the 144th overall pick in April.

“If you had told me Friday night [Day 2 of the NFL Draft], driving home, y’all are gonna pick Shedeur, I would have said ‘that’s not happening,’” Haslam said Tuesday. “But we had a conversation early that morning [Day 3], and we had a conversation later that day, and we had the right people involved in that conversation.

“At the end of the day, that’s [general manager] Andrew Berry’s call. Andrew made the call to pick Shedeur. Just like who’s gonna start or what play we’re gonna call is [head coach] Kevin [Stefanski]’s call. But that’s Andrew’s call. He made the call.”

While Haslam didn’t cast away Sanders or express any disbelief in him, it seems like he doesn’t want to go down in the wreckage if Sanders winds up flaming out of the NFL.

While that is not uncommon for a fifth-round pick, Sanders comes with increased hype due to his father, Deion Sanders, being an NFL great, as well as his coach at Colorado and Jackson State, where he put up eye-popping numbers.

It led many to believe he would be one of the top picks in the 2025 NFL Draft in April before his name went shockingly uncalled during the first two days of the draft.

Some on X took this as a sign that Sanders may be struggling in the early days in Browns camp, where he is in a four-man QB compeтιтion with veterans Kenny Pickett and Joe Flacco, as well as fellow rookie and third-round pick Dillon Gabriel.

“If Shedeur was trending to make the 53-Man roster, it would have been a Haslam pick,” the user wrote. “Since he is still the 4th QB on the depth chart, of course he becomes an Andrew Berry pick … Jimmy Haslam continuing to be one of the worst owners.”

Whether he made the pick or not, the Browns owner did have some encouraging words about Sanders.

“I know everyone has a vision of Shedeur, but he’s come in the building, worked hard, kept his head down and done what he’s supposed to do,” Haslam said.