Cleveland Browns quarterback Shedeur Sanders suffered an oblique strain and will likely be out for Saturday's (August 16) preseason game against the Philadelphia Eagles, ESPN's Adam Schefter wrote on his X account Wednesday (August 13).
"Browns QB Shedeur Sanders suffered an oblique strain today, will not practice Thursday, and is unlikely to play on Saturday vs. the Eagles," Schefter wrote.
Schefter had previously reported that Sanders, 23, suffered the oblique injury "while throwing during the early portion of practice today, and was held out for the rest of the session."
Sanders started at quarterback for the Browns during their 30-10 win against the Carolina Panthers last Friday (August 8), throwing for 138 yards and two touchdowns on 14 of 23 passing, while also recording 19 yards on four rushing attempts. Head coach Kevin Stefanski confirmed his decision to start Sanders two days prior to kickoff.
Sanders, the son of Pro Football Hall of Famer cornerback Deion Sanders, his head coach at the University of Colorado and previously Jackson State University, was selected by the Browns in the fifth-round of the 2025 NFL Draft, two rounds after former Oregon quarterback Dillon Gabriel. Cleveland's depth chart also includes former Super Bowl champion Joe Flacco and fellow veterans Tyler 'Snoop' Huntley and Kenny Pickett.
Sanders was projected by many to be a potential first-round pick before falling to No. 144 overall in the fifth-round of the 2025 NFL Draft in April. CBS Sports' Jonathan Jones claimed he may have "sandbagged" interviews with teams he was less interested in prior to the draft.
Sanders' father had previously implied that he had specific teams in mind for Shedeur and his other son, Shilo, who also played for the Buffaloes and eventually signed with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers as an undrafted free agent. The Pro Football Hall of Famer teased that he and Shedeur would take similar action to former New York Giants quarterback Eli Manning and his father, former NFL quarterback Archie Manning, when they expressed their desire for Eli to not play for the then-San Diego Chargers prior to the 2004 NFL Draft.
“I know where I want them to go,” Deion said. “There’s certain cities where it ain’t going to happen … It’s going to be an Eli. We ain’t doing that.”