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Cleveland Browns rookie quarterback Shedeur Sanders hasn’t even taken an NFL regular-season snap, and he’s already ranked in the top five of one prestigious category.
Sanders, who was projected to be a first-round pick back in April but fell to the Browns with the 144th overall pick in the fifth round, has been one of the most-talked about players of the NFL offseason.
He spent training camp and the preseason locked in a four-player quarterback competition with Joe Flacco, Kenny Pickett, and fellow rookie Dillon Gabriel, and he’s currently listed third on the depth chart after Pickett was traded to the Las Vegas Raiders for a fifth-round pick before the start of the regular season.
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Sanders had one impressive preseason showing — completing 14 of 23 passes for 138 yards and two touchdowns against the Carolina Panthers — and one underwhelming performance — he completed 3 of 6 passes for 14 yards and took five sacks — against the Los Angeles Rams.
Though he dressed for Sunday’s season opener against the Cincinnati Bengals, Sanders wasn’t active, as he was Cleveland’s emergency third quarterback. Despite him not playing, he was still a trending topic on social media, proving just how big his star power is despite him not being a starting NFL QB just yet.
And if that weren’t enough proof, Sanders has the fifth-highest selling jersey in the NFL through the first week of the regular season, according to data compiled by Fanatics. The list pertains to jerseys officially licensed by the NFL Players Association.
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Philadelphia Eagles running back Saquon Barkley tops the list, followed by Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts, Washington Commanders QB Jayden Daniels, and Buffalo Bills QB Josh Allen, the reigning NFL MVP.
Sanders has sold more jerseys than some of the NFL’s top QBs including Kansas City’s Patrick Mahomes (No. 7), Baltimore’s Lamar Jackson (No. 8), and Denver’s Bo Nix (No. 9).
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