Browns' Shedeur Sanders among 26 NFL veterans on thin ice after 2026 draft
The annual draft, almost by definition, puts some of the NFL's established players at risk of job loss – and that may include a few in Cleveland this year.
OWINGS MILLS, MD – It’s now been a full week since the 2026 NFL Draft began receding into the rearview mirror. Next, the league’s newcomers hit the road – fully embracing what they see through the windshield as they leave home, college campuses and/or pre-draft training sites to take the on-ramp for the unofficial starts of their pro football careers as 31 of the NFL’s 32 clubs conduct May's rookie minicamps – eight of them wrapping up this weekend, with 23 more set to be in full swing next weekend. (The Detroit Lions opted out of their rookie minicamp , altering the approach to their offseason.
) “The message for those guys is, like, every day has to be the most important day of your career now. If you really want to make it, and you really want to find that consistency – like every meeting and every rep is the most important rep and especially from a mental standpoint. It's not always going to be a thousand miles an hour physically.
But every opportunity in the meeting room, in the weight room, in the walk-throughs, every rep is the most important rep of your career,” Ravens rookie head coach Jesse Minter said Saturday when asked about where he wants his rookies focused. “For these guys, it's not always about gaining the trust of me or the coaches. It's really about gaining the trust of our veterans and our leaders – and they can do that over the course of the rest of the offseason program and in training camp.
And most of the time, in my experience, even as just a defensive coach, the veteran players come to you and say, ‘Hey, that rookie is ready to help us,’ before you even say that as a coach. ” FIRST IMPRESSION? 'Foot in the door,' what Diego Pavia did at Ravens minicamp Yet the NFL is a cruel zero-sum game.
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