ESPN's Jeremy Fowler: Shedeur Sanders has 'answered the bell' in minicamp with Browns

Shedeur Sanders has a ton of eyes on his rookie season with the Cleveland Browns. His NFL Draft slide was highly publicized, but now all that’s left to do is for him to ball out and prove his mettle.

Apparently, that’s what he’s been doing at minicamp. According to ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler, the former Colorado star is turning heads, making an undeniable impression with the Browns thus far.

“This was fascinating, because I was told Kevin Stefanski’s plan for his four quarterbacks at OTAs and minicamp was to try to get a lot of different guys different touches in different situations, and they all really answered the bell, including Sanders,” Fowler reported on Saturday, via SportsCenter. “He showed the ability to put the ball in some tight windows. He threw with aggressiveness, took some chances. So, they like where he sits.

“Now, Stefanski has to formulate a plan in training camp that’s probably a little more crystallized. Maybe has a little bit of a depth chart to it. They are not there yet, but Sanders has made an impression, there’s no doubt.”

Even though Sanders has shown some ability, it’s going to be an uphill climb if he wants to become the Browns’ starting quarterback. Joe Flacco, Kenny Pickett and Dillon Gabriel join him in the team’s quarterback room, and the competition between the four throwers will likely continue throughout the summer.

Still, there are many who believe Sanders can shock the world and become the team’s starter for Week 1. Louis Riddick of ESPN acknowledged it’ll be difficult, but he believes that Sanders, based on his skillset, can beat out Flacco, Pickett and Gabriel for the job.

“It’s gonna be incumbent upon this coaching staff to give him a path to earn that,” Riddick said, via SportsCenter. “If they give him enough reps and he has enough opportunities and gets put in enough situations, I think his skillset is that he can compete with anyone on that roster in the quarterback room.

“As a matter of fact, he can probably one-for-one, man-for-man, beat out anyone on that roster. It’s gonna be about opportunity. We all know this. We’ll see how they wind up getting him that opportunity.”

So far, the Browns have provided Shedeur Sanders the necessary reps. We’ll see if that keeps up, but the fifth-round pick is out to prove his doubters wrong, and he could do just that if given the opportunity in 2025, it seems.

— On3’s Nick Geddes contributed to this article.