The decision to select Shedeur Sanders was made by general manager Andrew Berry, Browns owner Jimmy Haslam emphasizes.

Jimmy Haslam has commented on the Cleveland Browns’ decision to select quarterback Shedeur Sanders in the fifth round of the NFL draft.

It was not his decision and he did not put any pressure on the Browns’ general manager, Haslam said. “At the end of the day, it was Andrew Berry’s decision. Andrew decided to select Shedeur,” Haslam said at the annual preseason media briefing, which he held together with his wife Dee.

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If someone had called him on his way home after day two of the draft and asked him if the Browns would pick Sanders, he would have said, “That’s not going to happen.”

However, the fifth-round draft pick was discussed twice later on. “I think the right people were involved in those conversations,” Haslam said, indicating that he stood behind the decision.

Sanders didn’t go until number 144

The fact that Sanders was picked so late was the big surprise of the April draft. At least as surprising was that the Browns then decided to take the 23-year-old with the 144th pick.

After all, they had already picked quarterback Dillon Gabriel in the third round. The two rookies join Kenny Pickett and Joe Flacco, who also play for the Browns.

Cleveland had actually hoped that Deshaun Watson would be the Browns’ franchise quarterback for the next few years. However, the 29-year-old has hardly played due to a lengthy suspension and injuries and has proven to be a major flop.

When asked about the so far futile search for a franchise quarterback and what he had learned from it as owner, Haslam at least showed some self-irony.

“Not much, it seems,” he replied.