A former No. 2 overall NFL draft pick who spent time with the Cleveland Browns organization is showering praise onto one of the organization’s newest rookies.
Robert Griffin III — who played parts of seven seasons in the NFL after being selected second overall in the first round of the 2012 draft by Washington — posted a highlight clip of Browns rookie QB Shedeur Sanders from camp saying in part, “You see why his tape said he was a 1st Round QB.”
Griffin III, who earned AP Offensive Rookie of the Year honors to go with his lone Pro Bowl selection as a rookie quarterback, said Sanders “plays with NFL timing and rhythm” and “knows how to layer the ball.”
Sanders, the son of NFL great and two-sport star Deion Sanders, slid well beyond the first round of the 2025 draft, eventually being snapped up by Cleveland with a fifth-round draft choice. And that occurred after the Browns had already selected Oregon’s Dillon Gabriel, another quarterback.
“I think his dad’s involvement hurt him,” a high-level NFL executive said of the younger Sanders, per USA TODAY reporting.
Other anonymous execs felt Sanders’ slide in the draft was also talent-based, and that the younger Sanders wasn’t good enough to warrant a first-round selection.
In any case, earning praise from a former NFL QB who had great success during his own rookie season could be viewed as a good sign for Browns fans.
Sanders hasn’t proven anything at the NFL level yet, but a former NFL quarterback who had success (at least initially) at the highest level of competition praising what he sees is, at the very least, noteworthy.
This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Former Cleveland Browns quarterback Robert Griffin III gives praise to Shedeur Sanders
Reporting by Ben Leibowitz, Akron Beacon Journal / Akron Beacon Journal
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
