Shedeur Sanders dealt brutal blow by $8bn Browns owner as Cleveland QB announces career change

Deshaun Watson can go from a ‘swing and a miss’ to a home run for the Cleveland Browns this year.

The $230 million quarterback, regarded as the worst trade in NFL history, missed the entire 2025 season as he recovered from a torn Achilles, and a subsequent re-rupture.

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Just 12 months ago, Browns owner Jimmy Haslam, worth an estimated $8 billion, gave him little chance of ever making an impact for the team, and dropped a brutal assessment of his massive contract.

But a lot, apparently, can change in a year.

Browns owner tips Deshaun Watson to bounce back in blow to Shedeur Sanders

Watson is healthy again, and Haslam believes he can make a ‘fresh start’ under new Browns head coach Todd Monkin.

“Deshaun has a great chance, fresh start, offensive-minded coach, who has in his past been able to work with all kinds of different quarterbacks and make them successful,” Haslam said Monday, walking back on his ‘swing and a miss’ comments.

“So, Deshaun has a great chance to do that now. We talked to him the other day, he said he weighs the (least) he has in several years.

“He’s in great shape, he’ll be (with the team) on April 7 when we start. Let’s see what Deshaun can do.

“We’re all excited.”

Suggestion that Watson can win back the starting role in Cleveland comes as a big blow to Shedeur Sanders.

The young quarterback, son of NFL great Deion Sanders, is heading into his second year.

In his debut season, he was initially buried on the depth chart behind veteran Joe Flacco and fellow rookie Dillon Gabriel, but ended up taking the starting spot come Week 12.

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Sanders held onto the role for the rest of the year, went 3-4 as starter and ended up on the Pro Bowl roster.

It’s long been known that there would be a quarterback battle in Browns training camp once again this summer, and the 24-year-old would have had hopes of establishing himself as the franchise guy moving forward.

Instead, though, all the early noise suggests Watson is in pole position to start in Week 1.

That hasn’t stopped Sanders from making a big career decision, though.

Shedeur Sanders lands iconic jersey number for Browns

In his rookie NFL season, Sanders wore the No. 12 jersey.

While recent greats like Tom Brady and Aaron Rodgers both sported that number, there was a different jersey that the young star had his eye on — No. 2.

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Wide receiver DeAndre Carter had that for the Browns last season, but as he is no longer on the roster, Sanders is free to return to his iconic college number.

The last time No. 2 belonged to Sanders was in his senior year for the Colorado Buffaloes, when he set single-season school records for passing yards, completions, attempts, touchdowns, completion percentage and quarterback rating.

His jersey was retired by CU in April 2025.

Cleveland announced Sanders’ new number on Monday, which coincided with the quarterback posting ‘#2’ on social media.

He’ll soon take the field in his new jersey, with hopes No. 2 can bring some college magic to the NFL.

First, though, Sanders will have to battle for his spot against a rejuvenated Watson in training camp.

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