The Cleveland Browns may have just drafted the face of their franchise.
That it took until the fifth round of the 2025 NFL Draft and had to be their second QB selected in three rounds makes it the weirdest choice in the history of the draft.
Colorado's Shedeur Sanders was a consensus first-round draft prospect.
But he didn't go in round one. He didn't go in round two.
In the third round, the Browns took Oregon QB Dillon Gabriel with the No. 94 overall pick. Gabriel was the fifth quarterback off the board.
Yet on Saturday, the Browns just couldn't pass Sanders up.
MORE: Shedeur Sanders' draft slide doesn't matter anymore
After Cleveland made one of its most confusing choices in recent memory to take Gabriel, the Browns may have just redeemed themselves entirely with the Sanders choice.
It's never going to make sense.
Maybe news comes out in the days ahead that explains it better, that makes us all understand why Shedeur was the 144th player off the board.
But probably not.
First-round quarterbacks don't drop to the fifth round. It doesn't happen.
It's the most important position in sports. Sanders is capable of starting in the NFL and playing at a high level.
It's a huge steal for the Browns, a huge whiff by the rest of the NFL and something that we'll never see again.
Somehow, Sanders lasted into the fifth round. No one saw this coming, and the giant draft slide is mercifully over.
Now, the most unlikely No. 144 pick in NFL Draft history gets a chance to make his mark on the league.
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