Aaron Rodgers shares massive shoutout to Shedeur Sanders prior to Week 17 clash

When Aaron Rodgers entered the NFL 20 years ago, Deion Sanders was still in the NFL.

Rodgers and Cleveland’s latest quarterback, Shedeur Sanders, have quite a bit in common.

During that 2005 NFL Draft, Rodgers was overlooked as the top quarterback in the class. Despite being one of the best quarterback prospects, Rodgers fell to the Green Bay Packers at No. 24 overall.

The future first-ballot Hall of Fame quarterback noted that he followed Sanders as the young quarterback followed his father from Jackson State to Colorado. Rodgers noted that with the Buffaloes being a former Pac-12 program, he wanted to see Sanders find success.

“It was a tough draft slide, obviously a much longer wait than mine was,” Rodgers said. “It seems like he’s been patient, worked on his craft and been playing pretty good these last few weeks.”

Prior to a legendary career with the Packers, Rodgers had to wait for his turn behind Hall of Fame quarterback Brett Favre. That’s not where the similarities end.

Rodgers was criticized for playing in a quarterback-friendly offense during his college career at Cal. Similar to what Sanders dealt with earlier this season, many believed as if the young quarterback needed time to get acclimated to the NFL. From 2005-2007, Rodgers sat on the bench, learning from Favre and new head coach Mike McCarthy.

Sanders only had to wait 11 weeks to get his first career start.

That’s because Week 1 veteran quarterback Joe Flacco was benched and replaced. Fellow rookie quarterback Dillon Gabriel underwhelmed during his first five career starts, paving the way for Sanders to take over once the undersized third-round rookie suffered a concussion.

Despite not having any reps at practice with Cleveland’s starters prior to supplanting Gabriel, Sanders has held his own.

The Browns have one of the worst offensive lines in the NFL. They also have one of the worst wide receiver units. Yet Sanders has found ways to complete deep passes while working on improving his completion percentage in Cleveland’s latest defeat against the Buffalo Bills.

While Sanders has only one victory to his name, he’s piqued plenty of interest to be in the mix as an option for the Browns to start next season.

On top of the dramatic draft fall, there are plenty of similarities between Rodgers and Sanders. They both have laser-sharp deep ball accuracy. There were major questions about how their games might translate to the NFL.

They both possess an unspoken aura of confidence and poise.