Former Colorado Buffaloes quarterback Shedeur Sanders was expected to be a first-round pick in the 2025 NFL draft. However, he had a historic draft slide and was not picked up until the Cleveland Browns selected him in the fifth round. He is now in a complicated QB room in Cleveland with three other competitors: Joe Flacco, Kenny Pickett and Dillon Gabriel.
On Tuesday, Cleveland Browns owner Jimmy Haslam spoke to the media and made comments about how he was surprised the team drafted Sanders. The comments sent the college football world into an uproar, and on Wednesday, they were discussed on “First Take” on ESPN. Analyst Louis Riddick raised red flags about the comments.
“He’s not saying that because he didn’t think Shedeur was gonna be available. That’s not what he’s saying,” Louis Riddick said. “He’s saying it because, in my opinion, he’s sitting there saying, they didn’t have him ranked that high. I don’t know who pulled the trigger on this. I don’t even care why he said what he said. This is what it tells me though: this young man is ice skating uphill.”
“They are not in lock step as far as how they view him within that organization. Why else would you come out and say, ‘When I was driving home on Friday night, if they told me we would draft Shedeur Sanders on Saturday, I would say, that ain’t happening.’ What that means is there’s enough people at the top of the totem pole that are like, nah, he’s not for us. Simple as that.”
“[Shedeur Sanders] is ice skating uphill.”
—@LRiddickESPN on Browns’ owner Jimmy Haslem saying they didn’t plan on drafting Shedeur on Day 3 😳 pic.twitter.com/E1BiQYbRyN
— First Take (@FirstTake) July 30, 2025
Louis Riddick Says That Shedeur Sanders Should Question Whether He Has a Chance in the QB Competition in Cleveland
Louis Riddick went on to discuss how Jimmy Haslam’s comments should impact Shedeur Sanders. He spoke about how Sanders should hear these comments and question his place in the Browns organization. He even went as far as to say that Sanders should question whether he has a legitimate shot in the QB competition because some members of the organization might not have wanted to draft him in the first place.
Riddick closed out the conversation by talking about how he is not a fan of the comments from Jimmy Haslam. He thinks that, regardless of how Haslam feels about Sanders as a player, it did not make sense to say what he said now that he is on the team.
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