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Browns HC Todd Monken seems to confirm Ravens, Shedeur Sanders story
Todd Monken. Tommy Gilligan-Imagn Images

Browns HC Todd Monken seems to confirm Ravens, Shedeur Sanders story

A September report claimed that the Baltimore Ravens wanted to select current Cleveland Browns quarterback Shedeur Sanders with the 141st pick of the 2025 NFL Draft before the Ravens allegedly learned that Sanders didn't want to go to a team where he'd be a backup for two-time regular-season Most Valuable Player Lamar Jackson. 

Much more recently, the Browns hired former Ravens offensive coordinator Todd Monken as their new head coach. For a video shared by the Browns on Friday morning, Monken seemed to confirm the Ravens-Sanders story. 

What Todd Monken said to Shedeur Sanders inside Browns' facility

"We tried to draft your a-- last year, for God's sake," Monken told Sanders in an apparent reference to the Ravens. "You remember that, right? Someday, we'll get a chance to talk about that."

Shortly after the September story went public, Sanders said he was "focused on the now" and not on why he surprisingly fell to the fifth round of the draft. 

"You wouldn’t believe my memory don’t even go back that far," Sanders added at the time. "I don’t remember anything (pre) draft. I remember I’m here, I go to practice every day and there’s a 24-hour rule."

Sanders' alleged handling of the pre-draft process seemingly caused teams to pass on him multiple times during the draft. One story claimed that he bombed a pre-draft visit with then-New York Giants head coach Brian Daboll. 

Daboll and Giants general manager Joe Schoen ultimately landed quarterback and 2025 Offensive Rookie of the Year Award finalist Jaxson Dart.

Todd Monken seems ready to work with Shedeur Sanders

Meanwhile, a Thursday report revealed that the Browns asked Monken and other head-coaching candidates how they would "develop Shedeur Sanders" if hired. That story added that those interviewed got "the idea that being able to get starter-level play out of Sanders was seen as a plus." 

Of course, one funny interaction in front of a camera doesn't mean that Sanders will start over veteran Deshaun Watson or a quarterback currently not on the Cleveland roster this coming September. That said, Monken will now get a chance to work with a young signal-caller he seemingly was interested in last spring. 

Zac Wassink

Zac Wassink is a longtime sports news writer and PFWA member who began his career in 2006 and has had his work featured on Yardbarker, MSN, Yahoo Sports and Bleacher Report. He is also a football and futbol aficionado who is probably yelling about Tottenham Hotspur at the moment and who chanted for Matt Harvey to start the ninth inning of Game 5 of the 2015 World Series at Citi Field. You can find him on X at @ZacWassink

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