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Shedeur Sanders Faces Intense Backlash for Tom Brady Comments at Browns Minicamp

Originally posted on Athlon Sports | By Max Dible | Last updated May 10, 2025 7:22 PM ET

Shedeur Sanders appears destined to be among the most scrutinized athletes in the country for years to come, as the level of attention he got while playing quarterback at Colorado continued through the NFL draft and has now carried into his professional career as a rookie with the Cleveland Browns.

Sanders has already made considerable efforts toward moving past his unprecedented draft slide, arriving in Cleveland and displaying his work ethic along with making early inroads into the surrounding community.

But Sanders remains the same confident, self-assured signal caller he always was, which continues to draw scrutiny -- regardless of whether that scrutiny is contextualized fairly or not.

Most recently, Sanders spoke about Tom Brady -- a seven-time Super Bowl winner and one of his mentors. The Browns QB met with reporters at the team's rookie minicamp on Saturday, May 10, and contextualized his journey to this point, as well as his continued path forward, by comparing it to Brady's situation coming out of Michigan.

The New England Patriots selected Brady in the sixth round, while Cleveland took Sanders in the fifth.

#Browns rookie QB Shedeur Sanders on what he took from Tom Brady reaching out to him after being a Day 3 draft pick: “My story is gonna be similar.”

(via @JJCoop25)pic.twitter.com/U46gG7T197
— Jordan Schultz (@Schultz_Report) May 10, 2025

"My story is going to be similar," Sanders said of his career trajectory compared to Brady's. "I was a late-round draft pick, but we're here now. So none of that stuff matters as it mattered on the day. I'm just excited to be here and ready to work."

Sanders' comments show maturity and growth in the face of what was clearly a harrowing draft experience exacerbated by intense social media scorn in its aftermath.

But the 23-year-old QB wasn't praised much for that on the internet Saturday. Instead, he drew severe backlash from people who heard his comments as a one-to-one comparison to arguably the best player in the history of the sport.

Dude is going to fail big time…. Don’t wish him anything bad, but who the hell says they will have a similar career to Tom Brady, the goat??
— Rodrigo Velasquez (@NygBlitz1972) May 10, 2025

"Dude is going to fail big time," one user responded on X. "Don't wish him anything bad, but who the hell says they will have a similar career to Tom Brady, the goat??"

So much for humility this guy is trash. Too bad his dad was awesome.
— Kevin Kuntz (@KevinKuntz2) May 10, 2025

"So much for humility," another person wrote. "This guy is trash. Too bad his dad was awesome."

He’s even built like a 5th round QB.
— Splash (‘N Go) (@4stickers) May 10, 2025

"He's even built like a 5th round QB," a third poster added.

He has been in the league for less than a month and I’m already sick of him. This is your guys’ fault, quite frankly.
— Emilio Lizardo (@ElectClayDavis) May 10, 2025

"He has been in the league for less than a month and I'm already sick of him," a fourth X user said. "This is your guys' fault, quite frankly."

Sanders has played well early in rookie minicamp and looked better than Dillon Gabriel early on, per firsthand reports. However, Joe Flacco remains the early favorite to win the starting job in Cleveland for the upcoming regular season.

This article first appeared on Athlon Sports and was syndicated with permission.

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