Shedeur Sanders does Browns a solid to help set up NFL Draft day blockbuster

Several teams situated at the top of the 2025 NFL Draft need a quarterback. Only two feel worthy of first-round consideration, however, with Miami's Cam Ward and Colorado's Shedeur Sanders vying for top billing at football's most illustrious position.

There was mounting suspicion that the Tennessee Titans will pass on QB help in favor of stud EDGE Abdul Carter with the No. 1 overall pick. That leaves the Cleveland Browns at No. 2 and the New York Giants at No. 3 in prime position to land a top signal-caller.

For New York, however, it's a less-than-desirable position. The Giants are effectively set up to settle for the leftovers after Cleveland hand-picks its next quarterback. If the Giants want Shedeur Sanders, which has been the popular theory for ages, it won't matter if the Browns pick him.

That is, unless Cleveland plays its cards right.

Browns can use Giants-Sheduer Sanders connection against them

Ward actually appears to be the quarterback picking up steam in Cleveland circles right now, but the Browns are still planning to talk with Sanders, who has scheduled meetings in both Cleveland and New York. The 23-year-old does not have any more meetings on his docket, as he told Well Off Media.

If the Giants are desperate to add Sanders — and Sanders, who famously wore Giants cleats at the Alamo Bowl, seems to strongly prefer New York — the Browns can leverage that mutual attraction to their own advantage. Why wouldn't the Browns send off smoke signals suggesting their interest in Sanders to force the Giants' hand via trade?

Cam Ward is great, but trading back to No. 3 for a haul of future picks and still adding Ward is even better. That is probably the dream outcome for Cleveland fans, who ought to be rooting for Ward over Sanders due to his outlier athleticism and dual-threat ability.

Sanders wouldn't take the Browns meeting if he wasn't willing to end up in Cleveland, though, so this is a situation worth monitoring. Sanders does not innovate and create outside the pocket like Ward does, but he throws with feather-soft touch and razor-sharp precision. He has perhaps the strongest arm in the draft, and he checks a number of boxes for your more classic QB archetype. The Browns want to win games next season and perhaps convince Myles Garrett to rescind his trade request in the process. Sanders might be better out of the gate than Ward.

One year after six quarterbacks flew off the board in the top-12, the 2025 draft is widely considered a weak crop for QB talent. Ward and Sanders both put up monster numbers last season, but neither can match the well-roundedness of Drake Maye or the sheer dynamism of a Caleb Williams. Teams, the Browns included, will need to be careful about investing such a prime resource in a quarterback with serious doubts. If Cleveland can stock up on future assets and bring in Ward via trade, that would ease the risk a bit.