Through three days and five rounds of Shedeur Sanders' stunning fall in the 2025 NFL Draft, there was no shortage of unpredictable developments.
Not the least of which was when the Cleveland Browns, long viewed as a potential Sanders landing spot, selected Oregon's Dillon Gabriel in the third round with the Colorado quarterback still on the board.
Perhaps even more shocking was when Sanders became the second quarterback taken by the Browns, picked in the fifth round at No. 144 overall -- 50 selections after they took Gabriel.
With Sanders and Gabriel now unexpected teammates, they're making the best of the unforeseen union and "truly cool" with each other, the former Buffaloes star said.
"Everything's been cool," Sanders told SportsCasting's DJ Siddiqui recently. "He's a cool person. I like how he handles situations, especially just the negative media that's coming his way. I'm just happy he's positive, he's able to handle everything. We're truly cool."
Gabriel, seen by some as Day 3 selection taken early by the Browns, embraced the situation when talking to reporters at rookie minicamp, happy that the two could "learn from one another."
Sanders concurred, stating that they're "for sure" learning from each other.
Gabriel, 24, and Sanders, 23, have some similarities in their roads to a most unconventional Browns QB room.
Gabriel played for three colleges -- Central Florida, Oklahoma and Oregon -- in six seasons. His final year saw him throw for 3,857 yards and 30 touchdowns as a senior for the Ducks, earning Big Ten Offensive Player of the Year.
Sanders played for two colleges -- Jackson State and Colorado -- in four seasons, all of them with his father and Pro Football Hall of Famer Deion Sanders as his head coach. His final year saw him throw for 4,134 yards and 37 touchdowns as a senior for the Buffaloes, earning Big 12 Offensive Player of the Year.
Now they've converged in Cleveland, part of a QB room that includes veteran Joe Flacco and Kenny Pickett, not that long ago seen as hopeful franchise QB of the Pittsburgh Steelers.
While navigating the earliest stages of his NFL career alongside new teammate Gabriel, Sanders has also kept in touch with his former Colorado teammate, Travis Hunter, who was taken second overall in the draft by the Jacksonville Jaguars.
"Just stay focused is the main thing," Sanders said of what he and Hunter talk about. "But we both know that, so we just check in to make sure we're both progressing."
Making progress is priority No. 1 for Sanders, whose tumble from prospective first-rounder to landing in Cleveland as a fifth-rounder was very much the top story of the draft.
He finds himself in a QB room -- a united one, according to Sanders -- that could or could not eventually include an injured Deshaun Watson. Without Watson, it's still quite an assortment.
There's a 40-year-old -- Flacco -- with a Super Bowl MVP on his resume.
There's a 2022 first-round pick -- Pickett -- on his third NFL roster.
There's a pair of rookies taken in the third and fifth rounds of the 2025 NFL Draft.
The fifth-rounder is looking to build chemistry in Cleveland, doing his best to focus on his future with the Browns and making the most of being in a QB room no one could have foreseen.
"I've mainly just been focusing on the team, everybody that's currently around me, the coaches on the team," Sanders said. "I haven't really been on my phone much or talking to many people. I really don't even talk to my family. It's one of those situations where I just have to lock in, stay focused on what's present now."
