Shedeur Sanders Made Record-Breaking Money From NFLPA Group Licensing

Shedeur Sanders doesn't have a lucrative contract with the Cleveland Browns, but he still banked a ton of money in 2025.

Since Sanders fell to the fifth round of the 2025 NFL Draft, his four-year contract with the Browns is worth roughly $4.6 million. Luckily for the Colorado product, he had a great financial year courtesy of his limited liability corporation, SS2Legendary.

The NFL Players Association revealed that Sanders made more than $17.7 million from jersey sales, card collectibles and more. Just to put that figure into perspective, J.J. McCarthy led all players during the 2024 season with $4 million earned.

"But now the heavily-hyped son of Deion Sanders is laughing all the way to the bank, as he earned a record-shattering $17.7 million in group licensing income over the course of the season, according to the NFL Players Association annual report filed this week with the Department of Labor," Daniel Kaplan of Front Office Sports wrote. "The prior record was Tom Brady's $9.5 million in the 2021-2022 season."

Will Shedeur start for the Browns?

Sanders made seven starts for the Browns in 2025, completing 56.6% of his pass attempts for 1,400 yards with seven touchdowns and 10 interceptions.

Even though fans would like to see Sanders get a longer leash, Mary Kay Cabot of Cleveland.com suggested that Deshaun Watson is the favorite to start Week 1 for the Browns.

"With my breaking news here that Deshaun Watson has taken the lead over Shedeur Sanders in the Browns QB competition and has the inside track to win it, I think they should declare him QB1 asap and let the 1st team offense start to cook," Cabot wrote. "There's no time to waste."

The Browns have not yet named a Week 1 starter. Head coach Todd Monken has said he'll let the competition play out at training camp.

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This story was originally published May 30, 2026 at 8:45 AM.