Former LB Sides With Shedeur Sanders for Turning Down the Offer to be Lamar Jackson’s Backup

Even though five months have passed since the 2025 NFL Draft, the unprecedented slide Shedeur Sanders endured continues to remain a pertinent topic of conversation. It was recently revealed that Sanders had received a call from both the Philadelphia Eagles and the Baltimore Ravens, well before the Cleveland Browns decided to draft him.

The Browns have only won four regular-season games since the start of the 2024 season. Meanwhile, Baltimore and Philly have already managed to farm that many wins in the first month of this 2025 season. So why on earth would Sanders turn them down?

Well, it’s their winning records that acted as the deterrent. The Ravens and the Eagles are already winning games; they don’t need him. In the words of his NFL Hall of Fame father, Deion Sanders, “How in the world can somebody fault him for saying or thinking ‘Why in the world would I go back up Lamar [Jackson] for 10 more years?’”

Shedeur was hoping to go unchallenged for the QB1 job, regardless of which franchise that happened to be with. Simply put, the kid wanted the shot that he thought he had earned playing as a star with the Colorado Buffaloes.

Even though the Browns had more quarterbacks on their roster than any other team in the league, there was still a path toward their starting job. That was worth more to Sanders than anything else at that point in time. Much like Deion, Channing Crowder can’t blame the 23-year-old for trying to take his shot at superstardom.

“Why would you want to go back up a Hall of Famer? Lamar Jackson is on the verge of becoming a Hall of Famer. He’s an MVP. There’s going to be multiple MVPs. He’s a young guy,” said the former linebacker-turned podcast host.

“[Shedeur] had no chance to ever start in Baltimore. I’ve heard the pushback and all, but he can beat out Dillon Gabriel. He can beat out Joe Flacco. He’s not going to beat out Lamar Jackson. Why would you want to go there to sit behind Lamar Jackson for four years?” Crowder added.

Even though things haven’t quite gone according to plan for Sanders since he landed in Cleveland, Crowder still believes that his decision was a “good idea” in terms of playing time. Considering that the Browns are off to a 0-3 start this year, it certainly seems as if the Browns will be making a change sooner rather than later.

It may not have come when he had initially hoped for it, but Sanders’ chance is possibly about to arrive. Just as he expected it to come.