Not Brady or Manning: Shedeur Sanders joins list of rookie QB to go to Pro Bowl

What a whirlwind it has been for Shedeur Sanders over the last 12 months. His NFL career got off to a rough start, but after sitting and waiting his turn, he not only became the Cleveland Browns starter, but he was named a replacement at this year’s Pro Bowl.

Comeback story for the ages

A year ago, Sanders was just wrapping up his college career at Colorado, and getting for the NFL Draft. Many figured him to be a top draft pick along with Miami QB, Cam Ward, in a year that there were plenty of teams that were in need of a quarterback. Some say it was because of some bad interviews, others claimed it was because he skipped the NFL Combine, but for whatever reason he dropped to the fifth round, as team after team passed up on him.

Fast forward a few months and he’s locked in a QB competition with Joe Flacco and fellow rookie Dillon Gabriel. Flacco was named QB1, and Gabriel was the back up with Sanders sitting third on the depth chart at the start of the season. Flacco eventually lost his job and was shipped away to Cincinnati and Gabriel took over the starting job in Cleveland. That lasted a for about a month and a half before Gabriel got injured and it was Sanders’ time to shine.

There were bright moments, to go along with some dark ones, which was understandable considering the Browns weren’t a very good team this year. He won his first start against a terrible Las Vegas Raiders team before losing the next four games. He finished off the season with two division wins over Pittsburgh and Cincinnati and went 4-3 in his first seven starts.

Sanders replacing Maye

Now, in a surprising twist of events, Shedeur Sanders is heading to the Pro Bowl after Drake Maye and the New England Patriots booked their ticked to the Super Bowl over the weekend. Maye was supposed to be on the AFC Team, but he has a few other more important obligations on his plate. So, after throwing for 1,400 yards, 7 TDs and 10 INTs the rookie QB is heading to Orlando to participate in the Pro Bowl festivities.

Sanders is the first fifth rounder to go to the Pro Bowl since Puka Nacua in 2023, and the 16th rookie QB to be named to the Pro Bowl after their first season. The first to do so was Joe Namath back in the 1960’s but lately there have been quite a few. Since 2012, there have been nine QBs that have gone to the Pro Bowl after their rookie year, the last of which being Drake Maye last season.

QBs that went to Pro Bowl in first year

• Joe Namath, 1965
• Bob Griese, 1967 
• Dan Marino, 1983
• Vince Young, 2006
• Cam Newton, 2011
• Andy Dalton, 2011 
• Russell Wilson, 2012
• Andrew Luck, 2012 
• Robert Griffin III, 2012
• Jameis Winston, 2015
• Dak Prescott, 2016
• Mac Jones, 2021
• C.J. Stroud, 2023
• Drake Maye, 2024
• Jayden Daneils, 2024
• Shedeur Sanders, 2025 

The crazy thing about this is, everything in Cleveland is up in the air. They have yet to replace former head coach Kevin Stefanski who they fired just after the season, and they have a quarterback situation that is an absolute mess. Deshaun Watson is set to make a come back and for the amount of money his guaranteed $200+ million contract is paying him he should be the starter. Then they have Gabriel and Sanders who weren’t exactly on great terms after being selected in the same draft class. Now Shedeur is a Pro Bowler, but isn’t a shoe in for the starting role in Cleveland next year

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