Emmanuel Acho Explains Why Shedeur Sanders Can Win the Starting Job for the Browns “Halfway Through the Season”

The 2025 NFL Draft was supposed to be Shedeur Sanders’ moment to silence his critics. Instead, he kept freefalling from a first-round lock to being picked up on Day 3 as a fifth-rounder. It was nothing short of shocking — and honestly, borderline embarrassing. To top it off, the Cleveland Browns grabbed the Colorado star as their second QB of the night, after they picked Dillon Gabriel in the third round, well before Shedeur.

But according to Emmanuel Acho, Shedeur’s selection as the 144th overall pick could turn out to be the best thing for his career — a blessing in disguise, of sorts. As he put it, “It is a dream delayed, not necessarily denied.”

In his latest video on X, the former Browns safety and FS1 analyst bucked the trend by not delving into the disrespect Sanders faced at the Draft. Instead, Acho shifted the conversation to the opportunity now staring Sanders straight in the face in Cleveland.

Acho highlighted that the Browns’ quarterback room is filled with uncertainty, characterized by aging veterans and questionable depth. In other words, it’s a prime opportunity for a hungry young quarterback to make his mark. Enter Shedeur Sanders — overlooked, underestimated, and now motivated to prove himself. With the stage set, there’s a real chance he could be starting by midseason.

“Shedeur Sanders can win that starting job. I believe he can win it halfway through the season. I don’t suggest he’ll start at the beginning of the season… so in theory it is a dream delayed, not necessarily denied… I was drafted to Cleveland. I know that city and I know that franchise well,” Acho said.

While it sounds like an easy plan in theory, the reality is different when you consider multiple variables, including how long Sanders will take to adapt to the big league and how Flacco, Watson, Pickett, and Gabriel perform in camp. But when Acho walked through his take, it felt more like a waiting room than a launch pad for long-term success.

“Deshaun Watson coming off an Achilles, and the ownership group has publicly criticized him. Joe Flacco, I believe 38, 39 years of age; he is not the future. You have Kenny Pickett, a first-round pick of three years ago that the Pittsburgh Steelers gave up on after two years. Then you have Dilon Gabriel, a rookie this year that Shedeur Sanders was better than in college,” Acho explained.

But here’s the kicker: If Acho believes that Kevin Stefanski & Co.’s patience with their starting QB1 will run out in just a few games, what’s to say they’ll give the same time to a rookie like Shedeur Sanders?

After all, this is a franchise that has never appeared in a Super Bowl game. And as we all know, the Browns and their fans are the literal embodiment of ‘starving for success.’

While Acho didn’t have an answer to this possibility, he too acknowledged it as a major concern for Shedeur’s growth, asking, “The question, though, is this: being in Cleveland, a team that is very hungry for success, will they have the patience for Shedeur Sanders to ever materialize?”

The analyst, therefore, gave the rookie quarterback a simple solution. Keep your head down, grind relentlessly, outwork everyone, and make the most of the limited chance that comes your way.

“Now it’s on you,” Acho stressed. “It’s time for you to go to work. You’re a rookie, and worse than that, you’re a rookie fifth-round pick. Now it’s time to just grind and make sure you remind everybody it is a dream delayed. It’s not a dream denied.”

Because even if the NFL doubted him, in Cleveland, the opportunity to flip the script is real. Now, all Shedeur Sanders needs to do is show the world he’s capable of backing up his talk!