Cleveland Browns Quarterback Shedeur Sanders Surprisingly Named To Pro Bowl Roster
If you had told any Cleveland fan back in September that Shedeur Sanders would be representing the AFC in the Pro Bowl Games, they probably would have asked you what kind of hallucinogens you were putting in your morning coffee.
Yet, here we are. In a twist that feels distinctly like a glitch in the simulation of the 2025 NFL season, the rookie quarterback is headed to San Francisco.
It hasn’t been a pretty season in Cleveland. We watched the Kevin Stefanski era crumble, we watched a quarterback carousel that would make you dizzy, and we watched a 5-12 finish that left the Dawg Pound barking at the moon in frustration. But amidst the rubble of a lost season, Sanders has managed to snag one of the league’s most recognizable honors.
How Sanders Punched His Ticket To San Francisco
Sanders wasn’t the first name on the list. He probably wasn’t the fifth. The Pro Bowl selection process has become a game of attrition in recent years, and this year is no exception.
The AFC roster needed a quarterback. The Buffalo Bills’ Josh Allen is the starter, and Justin Herbert was the backup. The third spot belonged to Drake Maye. But with Maye busy prepping to play in Super Bowl LX against the Seahawks, he wasn’t exactly available for a flag football game in the Bay Area.
With Herbert also nursing a hand injury, the league had to go down the list. And waiting there was Sanders. It is a massive break for the 144th overall pick. He becomes the first fifth-round rookie to make the Pro Bowl since the Rams’ Puka Nacua did it back in 2023. For a guy who had to sit behind Joe Flacco and fellow rookie Dillon Gabriel just to get on the field, that is some serious upward mobility.
The Numbers Don’t Lie, But They Do Confuse
If you are a stat-head, you are probably staring at Sanders’ line and scratching your head. In his eight appearances (and seven starts), Sanders threw for 1,400 yards, 7 touchdowns, and a cringe-inducing 10 interceptions. He completed just over 56% of his passes. In the modern NFL, where completion percentages usually hover in the mid-60s, that is underwhelming. So, how does that translate to an All-Star appearance?
It’s about context. The Browns’ offensive line was a sieve for most of the year. Sanders was sacked 23 times in just half a season of work. He was running for his life on nearly every dropback. Despite that, the offense actually had a pulse when he was under center. They went 3-4 in his starts, which, considering the state of the roster, was something of a minor miracle.
There is a “watchability” factor here, too. Sanders plays with a certain flair. Even when he’s making mistakes, he’s making them aggressively. He isn’t checking down; he’s trying to let it rip. The voters likely saw a kid trying to make plays in a collapsing pocket and gave him the nod for effort.
What This Means For the Browns’ Future
This selection creates a fascinating dynamic for Cleveland heading into the offseason. General Manager Andrew Berry, who has now drafted two Pro Bowlers in his tenure (Sanders joins Linebacker Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah), has to feel vindicated. Sanders took a massive tumble in the draft. He was projected as a first-rounder by the pundits but fell all the way to the fifth.
Berry scooped him up, and now, at least on paper, he has a Pro Bowl quarterback on a rookie deal. However, the future isn’t set in stone. The Browns are currently in Los Angeles courting Nathan Scheelhaase, the Rams’ passing game coordinator, for the head coaching gig. A new coach usually wants his own guy. But it’s going to be hard for a new coach to walk into the building and immediately bench a guy who just came back from the Pro Bowl.
Sanders has proved he has the resilience to handle the NFL spotlight. He took the sacks, he took the criticism for the interceptions, and he kept getting back up. He will join teammates Myles Garrett and Denzel Ward on Feb. 3, rubbing elbows with the league’s elite.
Is Sanders the franchise savior? The stats say “probably not yet.” But for one week in February, he’s a Pro Bowler. And in a season as dark as this one was for Cleveland, that’s a little bit of light worth celebrating.
