Shedeur Sanders signs rookie contract with the Cleveland Browns

CLEVELAND (AP) — Shedeur Sanders reached his next NFL milestone on Monday as he signed his rookie contract with the Cleveland Browns.

Cleveland traded up with Seattle to take Sanders in the fifth round with the 144th overall pick and end the drama as the draft's most recognizable player fell to the third day.

Sanders set Colorado single-season records last year as the Buffaloes made a bowl game for only the third time since 2008. He passed for 4,134 yards, 37 touchdowns and accounted for 41 total TDs en route to being selected as the Big 12’s Offensive Player of the Year and a second-team selection on the AP All-America team.

Sanders will be part of a four-way competition for the Browns starting quarterback spot. Cleveland acquired former Steelers first-round draft pick Kenny Pickett in a trade with Philadelphia at the start of free agency on March 12. The Browns signed Joe Flacco last month, who went 4-1 as a starter in 2023 and led the Browns to the playoffs for only the fourth time since their return.

Cleveland also selected Oregon's Dillon Gabriel late in the third round.

“My job here isn’t to prove people wrong, it’s to prove myself right," Sanders said about offseason expectations during Cleveland's rookie minicamp earlier this month. “I fully have self-belief, you know, and what those people say, that’s just their opinion. So, I don’t truly care. They don’t really live in my mental space about that type of stuff.”

The Browns have signed four of their seven draft picks in this year's class.

AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/nfl

Cleveland Browns quarterback Shedeur Sanders (12) passes during the NFL football team's rookie minicamp in Berea, Ohio, Saturday, May 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)

Cleveland Browns quarterback Shedeur Sanders, front, walks off the field after the NFL football team's rookie minicamp in Berea, Ohio, Saturday, May 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)

Cleveland Browns quarterback Shedeur Sanders walks off the field after the NFL football team's rookie minicamp in Berea, Ohio, Saturday, May 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)

LAUSANNE, Switzerland (AP) — Two more Russian athletes were approved by the International Olympic Committee to compete at the Milan Cortina Winter Games next month with neutral status.

The total is now five athletes with Russian passports and one from Belarus confirmed by the IOC as eligible for the Olympics that open Feb. 6. They will not have their national identity of team colors, flag or anthem and cannot take part in the opening ceremony athlete parades.

Short-track speed skaters Ivan Posashkov and Alena Krylova joined the list updated by the IOC late Monday.

The 21-year-old Posashkov competes in the men’s 1,000-meter event and the 23-year-old Krylova in the women’s 500 meters.

Neutral status can be given to athletes in individual events judged to have not actively supported their countries' full military invasion of Ukraine, and who are not contracted to the military or state security agencies.

Vetting is done first by a winter sports governing body and then verified by a panel of three IOC members, which includes former NBA star Pau Gasol.

The IOC previously approved Russian figure skaters Adeliia Petrosian — who is a strong medal contender — and Petr Gumennik, plus Nikita Filippov in ski mountaineering. Belarusian figure skater Viktoriia Safonova also passed checks.

More Russian and Belarusian athletes, including in Alpine and cross-country skiing, are likely to be added this month.

Russian athletes have returned to international winter sports competitions in recent weeks for the first time since the war on Ukraine intensified in February 2022, four days after the last Winter Games closed in Beijing.

Russia is still excluded from team sports like ice hockey at the Olympics, as it was at the 2024 Paris Summer Games.

AP Winter Olympics at https://apnews.com/hub/milan-cortina-2026-winter-olympics

Ice Master Mark Messer poses in the stadium where speed skating discipline of the Milan Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics will take place, in Rho, outskirt of Milan, Tuesday, Nov. 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)