Shedeur Sanders Earns Surprising Honor After Rookie Season With Cleveland Browns

Despite a rollercoaster rookie season with the Cleveland Browns, the NFL handed Shedeur Sanders a major honor.

Dec 28, 2025; Cleveland, Ohio, USA; Cleveland Browns quarterback Shedeur Sanders (12) stretches during a time out in the fourth quarter against the Pittsburgh Steelers at Huntington Bank Field. Mandatory Credit: Scott Galvin-Imagn Images | Scott Galvin-Imagn Images

Shedeur Sanders has taken a step out of the limelight after wrapping up his rookie season with the Cleveland Browns.

Now, the polarizing rookie quarterback is being rewarded with an honor following his rookie campaign.

On Monday, Sanders was added to the NFL Pro Bowl roster as a replacement. Sanders is the first fifth-round rookie to make a Pro Bowl since Puka Nacua. He will join fellow Browns stars Denzel Ward and Myles Garrett in San Francisco for the Pro Bowl on Tuesday February 3.

After Sanders was named a replacement, Browns general manager has now drafted two Pro Bowlers during his six seasons with the team. Standout linebacker Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah was the other Berry draft pick to receive Pro Bowl honors.

Sanders had to wait for his opportunity to play for the Browns, as his first start didn’t come until the last week of November against the Las Vegas Raiders. Once Sanders successfully filled in for fellow rookie quarterback Dillon Gabriel, it was apparent that he would never relinquish the starting quarterback duties.

How did Sanders make the Pro Bowl?

By starting just seven of the eight games he has appeared in, Pro Bowl honors for Sanders feels like a surprisingly high honor. He completed 56% of his passes for 1,400 yards, seven touchdown passes and 10 interceptions. He also rushed for a touchdown.

The numbers don’t paint the full picture for Sanders, who played better than his stat sheet proves. Offensively, the Browns were able to have a heartbeat when he was at quarterback, something that couldn’t be said for the games led by Gabriel, who technically had better numbers.

Sanders was sacked 23 times during his eight games with the Browns, proving that the offensive line needs a major revamp and that the rookie quarterback needs to let it rip a little bit faster.

While the Pro Bowl is certainly not what it once was, Sanders deserves his share of credit for being named to the roster as a replacement. 

During Sanders’ dramatic fall in the 2025 NFL Draft, nobody envisioned or predicted that he’d be representing the Browns in the Pro Bowl just a few months later. However, he was able to find a victory for three of the five games that the Browns were able to win in 2025, and that should count towards something.

The future of Sanders with the Browns remains wildly unknown.

The Browns fired Kevin Stefanski after six seasons with the team earlier in January. Sanders and Stefanski were always a strange fit. Currently, the Browns find themselves in Los Angeles meeting with Rams passing game coordinator Nathan Scheelhaase, who is a frontrunner to be the team’s next head coach.

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