It’s one thing to catch fire on the football field. Think about what wideout Puka Nacua has done during two exceptional seasons with the Los Angeles Rams, for example. Otherwise? Fifth-round draft picks entering the NFL need to be flame retardant.
In the case of Cleveland Browns rookie quarterback Shedeur Sanders, encasing himself in asbestos might have been the prudent move. Alas.
Rather than avoiding an NFL spotlight that’s sparked so many off-field wildfires over the years, Sanders instead provided fresh kindling for a legion of critics waiting to pounce – cited by police for driving 101 miles per hour after midnight ET Tuesday in suburban Cleveland. The listed speed limit where he committed the infraction was 60 mph.
Maybe you’re thinking this isn’t a big deal, a mistake easy to ascribe to youthful intemperance. And Sanders, 23, didn’t cause an accident. He wasn’t driving under the influence. His maximum legal exposure for a fourth-degree misdemeanor is a $250 fine.
The Browns haven’t issued a public statement. Nor has Sanders. And why should they? This incident – if it’s even that – pretty plainly speaks for itself.
“I just feel like in life and everything, it’s just me versus me, you know?” Sanders said following Cleveland’s rookie minicamp last month.
“I can’t control any other decision besides that. So, I just try to be my best self at all times.”
Obviously, he fell short of that Tuesday morning. Still, it would be silly to suggest that this should be a fireable offense. However it’s certainly an (another?) unforced error from a player whose judgment outside the lines has drawn far more scrutiny in recent months than his generally reliable decision-making on the field. And it’s fair to say a guy who’s been running with the fourth stringers is further distinguishing himself in the Browns’ crowded competition to be QB1 in 2025 – and that isn’t a compliment.
There are three men ahead of Sanders on Cleveland’s depth chart. Grizzled veteran Joe Flacco is a former Super Bowl MVP who also revitalized the Browns into a playoff squad in 2023. Kenny Pickett didn’t pan out as a 2022 first-rounder for the Pittsburgh Steelers, but he does have a 15-10 record as a starter in the NFL and earned a Super Bowl ring of his own last season as a backup with the Philadelphia Eagles.
Like Sanders, Dillon Gabriel is a rookie. Gabriel was also drafted 50 spots ahead of Sanders following a distinguished college run that saw him start the most games ever (64) by a Division I quarterback while accounting for an FBS record 190 career touchdowns. He led the University of Oregon to a No. 1 ranking last year and a berth in the College Football Playoff.
Sanders (somehow?) got his No. 2 – a digit the Browns didn’t even see fit to let him select – retired by the University of Colorado, which went 13-12 during his two seasons and didn’t win a bowl game. Despite his unremarkable physical skills, he was unequivocally one of the country’s better college quarterbacks – though it also helped to play with Heisman Trophy-winning receiver Travis Hunter, the No. 2 overall pick of this year’s draft.
Nevertheless, neither Flacco, Pickett nor Gabriel has been ticketed for excessive speeding … or drawn flak for anything else of note in their personal lives. Meanwhile, Sanders must prove he’s a superior option to a trio of other ones who have reputations as sterling citizens and, in one context or another, solid quarterbacks.
And, don’t forget, there are also quite a few notable players behind Sanders.
Just since 2012, the year Jimmy Haslam became the club’s owner, the Browns have spent first-round picks on the likes of Brandon Weeden and Baker Mayfield, the top pick in 2018. Cleveland traded back into Round 1 in 2014 for Johnny Manziel, then gave up the farm and a fully guaranteed $230 million contract to acquire troubled Deshaun Watson eight years later. (Remarkably – or maybe not since we’re talking about the Browns – neither Watson nor Manziel ever led Cleveland in passing yards in a season even once.)
It didn’t take Haslam long to lose patience with Weeden or Manziel, who didn’t last two years in the league thanks to his pitiful play and off-field transgressions. (And, as of June 2025, no one should be comparing Manziel’s brand of hubris or serious personal issues to anything Sanders has done, allegedly or otherwise − though the latter also isn’t the must-see, dual threat football talent “Johnny Football” once was.)
Mayfield often played well – and frequently through pain when he doubtless would have been better off anywhere but a football field – for a fairly flawed team yet was still unceremoniously dumped in favor of now-injured Watson, who only remains on the roster due to his onerous contract.
And these were all guys the Browns were heavily invested in. And, remember, they already own two first-round choices in what’s expected to be a quarterback-rich 2026 draft.
Though Sanders was widely expected to go in the first round of this year’s draft, more than one pundit suggested the son of legendary Hall of Famer and Buffs coach Deion Sanders would more likely be a Day 2 pick if his name was Shedeur Jones. Turns out, apparently since his name is Shedeur Sanders, who was never the kind of generational talent who’d blind teams with scintillating gifts, he became a fifth-round flier – the type of player who doesn’t even need to give a team a reason to cut him.
Asked about his approach after Cleveland finally ended his highly scrutinized draft free fall in April, Sanders said this: “Get there and handle my business. Do what I have to do, whatever role that is. I’m just thankful for the opportunity. So that’s all I could ask for.
“The rest is on me.”
Yep.
Sanders should heed his own advice. If he’s not more careful, the next ticket he’s served with could be the one-way variety – to football exile.
All NFL news on and off the field. Sign up for USA TODAY’s 4th and Monday newsletter.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Shedeur Sanders speeding ticket: Browns rookie QB can’t make mistakes
