Just when it seemed like Shedeur Sanders' rookie season with the Cleveland Browns couldn't get any more polarizing — a story of perseverance in the face of outright sabotage or a flawed fifth-round prospect struggling to keep his head above water, depending on your perspective — the NFL decided to name him to the Pro Bowl as an alternate on Monday afternoon. (Sanders replaces Drake Maye, who was chosen at QB for the AFC alongside Josh Allen and Justin Herbert but won't be able to take part after the New England Patriots punched their ticket to Super Bowl LX.)
No matter how you felt about Sanders prior to this news, odds are it's only confirmed your priors. But while this may just be my naivete talking, I maintain that we're capable of actual, coherent discourse in the year 2026 — using actual data in support of our arguments rather than running on vibes. And unfortunately for Shedeur stans everywhere, the data is pretty clear: Sanders sticks out like a sore thumb among rookie QBs to make the Pro Bowl in NFL history, and this appears to be no guarantee of future success.
Full list of rookie QBs to make the Pro Bowl: Shedeur Sanders enters some exclusive company
Sanders is now the 16th quarterback to make a Pro Bowl roster in his rookie year (including rookie who were selected to the AFL All-Star Game, which served as a de facto second Pro Bowl before the AFL-NFL merger in 1970). It's become an increasingly common occurrence in recent years: It happened just three times in the 20th century, but has now happened five times already in just the 2020s.
Which makes sense, given how pass-happy the NFL has become and how frequently big stars now decide to pass on the free trip to Hawaii. But there are still some big names on the list, and inclusion would seem to point to at least some degree of future success.
Player | Team | Year | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
Shedeur Sanders | Cleveland Browns | 2026 | Alternate |
Jayden Daniels | Washington Commanders | 2025 | Reserve (chose not to play) |
Drake Maye | New England Patriots | 2025 | Alternate |
CJ Stroud | Houston Texans | 2024 | Alternate |
Mac Jones | New England Patriots | 2022 | Alternate |
Dak Prescott | Dallas Cowboys | 2017 | Reserve |
Jameis Winston | Tampa Bay Buccaneers | 2016 | Alternate |
Robert Griffin III | Washington | 2013 | Reserve (did not play due to injury) |
Andrew Luck | Indianapolis Colts | 2013 | Alternate |
Russell Wilson | Seattle Seahawks | 2013 | Alternate |
Andy Dalton | Cincinnati Bengals | 2012 | Alternate |
Cam Newton | Carolina Panthers | 2012 | Alternate |
Vince Young | Tennessee Titans | 2007 | Alternate |
Dan Marino | Miami Dolphins | 1984 | Reserve |
Bob Griese | Miami Dolphins | 1967 | AFL All-Star |
Joe Namath | New York Jets | 1965 | AFL All-Star |
In the 21st century, only three of 13 rookie QB selections actually made the first cut: RGIII, Dak Prescott and Jayden Daniels. The rest were all chosen after either a starter or a reserve opted not to participate, whether due to injury or just because they didn't want to.
Still, this is a pretty impressive list. There are stars and future Hall of Famers all over, from Daniels and Maye to Prescott, Andrew Luck, Russell Wilson and Cam Newton. Heck, even guys like Andy Dalton and Jameis Winston have had long, perfectly respectable NFL careers in which they've thrown a lot of touchdowns and banked a lot of money. Really, the only two names that you could label outright busts are Vince Young and Mac Jones — and even Jones appears to have carved out a niche for himself as arguably the best backup QB in the league.
All of which would seem to be good news for Sanders ... if his performance as a rookie bore any resemblance to the names he now joins in Pro Bowl history. But that's simply not the case, a disparity that further drives home just how far his fans have gotten from reality.
What does Pro Bowl berth tell us about Shedeur Sanders' future? Not much
Sanders appeared in eight games for the Browns in 2025, starting seven of them. His numbers are below.
- Completions: 120
- Attempts: 212
- Completion percentage: 56.6%
- Passing yards: 1,400
- Yards per attempt: 6.6
- Touchdowns: 7
- Interceptions: 10
- QBR: 18.9
That hardly inspires confidence, to say the least. It's also an extreme outlier compared with the rookie Pro Bowlers who came before Sanders. His touchdown rate is the lowest on the list, while his interception rate is higher than anyone save for Griese (who was playing in a far different passing environment). His completion percentage is worse than everyone else in the 21st century save for Luck — who was asked to do infinitely more down the field for the Colts that season — and Young, who turned out not to be a viable NFL passer. Oh, and his yards per attempt are worse than all the 21st-century selections save for Young, too.
It's probably not a great sign that Sanders' statistical profile most closely resembles the one member of this list who didn't go on to a long pro career. You can make all the excuses and caveats you want, of course: His offensive line situation was rough, and his receivers were essentially Jerry Jeudy and a bunch of question marks. There's some truth to all of that, and it certainly affected how Sanders looked as a rookie.
But plenty of first-year quarterbacks get dropped into less-than-ideal situations, especially ones who were drafted much earlier than Sanders was. And yet, the ones who ultimately made it were able to at least show some flashes of future production. Sanders had a coach in Kevin Stefanski with a track record of doing more with less offensively, plus an elite defense backing him up. And yet, despite Stefanski scheming up plenty of free yardage for him in the screen game week after week, Sanders struggled when anything at all downfield was put on his plate.
You can hang your hat on this inclusion all you want, but it seems much more likely we look back on this in a few years as among the final death rattles of the Pro Bowl as we know it than a harbinger of Sanders' future success.