Todd Monken is in the Browns facility on Friday for the first time since agreeing to become the team’s head coach and a chat with quarterback Shedeur Sanders was on the list of his activities on the first day.
The Browns posted video of Sanders meeting Monken in an office and their interaction featured a callback to last year’s draft. Monken was the Ravens’ offensive coordinator at the time and there were reports, later confirmed by Sanders’s father Deion, that Sanders told Baltimore not to draft him a few picks before Cleveland selected him in the fifth round.
Monken reminded Sanders of that as the two men shook hands.
“We tried to draft your ass last year for God’s sake,” Monken said. “It all worked out. You remember that, right? Some day we’ll get a chance to talk about that.”
Deion Sanders explained that the family asked the Ravens — and the Eagles — to pass because they didn’t want Shedeur to be set up for a long run as a backup to an established starter. That approach worked out as the younger Sanders spent the second half of the season as Cleveland’s starter and the Ravens’ interest in him last year could be a good sign for his chances of getting a shot to continue in the starting role with Monken in Cleveland.
