Daniel Oyefusi
BEREA, Ohio — Cleveland Browns rookie quarterback Shedeur Sanders explained why he doesn’t want his father, Deion, to visit him at training camp, saying he wants to first “get where I want to go.”
Deion, a Pro Football Hall of Famer, told Michael Irvin that Shedeur told him not to visit him at training camp because of the limited reps he has received in practice. Deion went to see his other son, Shilo, at the Tampa Bay Buccaneers‘ training camp.
“I don’t want him coming to see me right now because I want to get to where I want to go, then for him to see me,” Shedeur said Monday. “I don’t want him to come and see me get a couple reps, and he is cheering like a good dad. Like, nah, you can’t be proud of me right now. I got to get to where I’m going, and I know it’s a lot I got to do to get there.
“It’s kind of like I just want everything that I’m doing is just focus on this time, and I don’t want no distractions because we know how the media, we know how everybody would take it and take away from the team, just from him being my own dad showing up. So, it is a gift and a curse at the same time.”
Shedeur was regarded as one of the top quarterbacks in the 2025 NFL draft before falling to the fifth round, where the Browns selected him with the 144th pick. Through the first week of training camp, Shedeur is the only quarterback in Cleveland’s four-way competition who has not received reps with the first-team offense.
Shedeur also commented on dealing with the health of his father, who announced last week that he underwent surgery to remove his bladder after doctors discovered a tumor there. Deion said that since the surgery there have been no traces of cancer and that he will continue to coach football at the University of Colorado.
“It’s definitely stay focused mentally,” Shedeur said. “Dad, he’s one person that he’ll handle his, we handle what we got to. So, it was something that we really ain’t even have a formal conversation about because, it was like, ‘Y’all need to focus on what y’all can focus on. Can’t sit here and feel sorry for me, and then that’s affecting y’all doing that.'”
