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Lil Wayne Backs Shedeur Sanders Getting His Shot in Cleveland — Melanin News | Melanin
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Lil Wayne Backs Shedeur Sanders Getting His Shot in ClevelandSports

Lil Wayne Backs Shedeur Sanders Getting His Shot in Cleveland

1d ago

Lil Wayne has a clear view on where Shedeur Sanders should be playing football, and it is not somewhere else. The Young Money co-founder said on a recent football program that he wants the Cleveland Browns quarterback to get his shot right where he is. The comment landed days after Sanders picked up a new representative with close ties to Wayne's own company.

The exchange happened on "Gridiron," the football show hosted by Skip Bayless with former NFL cornerback Aqib Talib. Asked whether he wanted Sanders to leave Cleveland, Wayne pushed back on the idea fast. "Oh, no," he said. "I just want to see Shedeur be Shedeur because wherever he is, you know, he has that." He followed up with, "Also, I need him to get his opportunity, and I think where he is, he's going to get that opportunity." Bayless replied, "I hope he's right." The exchange was reported on Friday, October 16.

Image related to Lil Wayne Backs Shedeur Sanders Getting His Shot in Cleveland
Related image from the original report Source

Wayne did not bring up the agent hire in that answer, and he did not speak for Sanders about any plans to leave town. His remarks were a statement of belief in the quarterback, not an announcement of a move. The business news behind the conversation came two days earlier. On Wednesday, October 14, NFL reporter Adam Schefter reported that Sanders had signed with Adie von Gontard, CEO of Young Money APAA Sports, as his first NFL agent.

Schefter wrote that Sanders, who went through draft night and the early part of his NFL career without an agent, had signed with von Gontard for representation. The report added that the agency now represents former Colorado teammates Travis Hunter and Sanders. Hunter is a Jacksonville Jaguars cornerback who was picked second overall in 2025, and he had already chosen the agency for his playing contracts before the draft. The move ended a stretch in which Sanders had no representation at all.

Cleveland selected Sanders in the fifth round, 144th overall, in 2025, and he signed his rookie deal without an agent. He is under contract through 2028 and cannot negotiate an extension until then. As a rookie, he started seven games and completed 120 of 212 passes for 1,400 yards, with seven touchdowns and 10 interceptions. Those numbers made his drop to the backup role this season a noticeable shift.

Cleveland Browns
Cleveland Browns Source

This season the picture has changed. Sanders has been Deshaun Watson's backup, and Cleveland's depth chart lists Watson first. Head coach Todd Monken chose Watson to open the season after weighing their work through the offseason, training camp, a joint practice and preseason games. Monken explained in August that the Browns' opening road games helped shape the choice. He believed Watson gave the team the best chance to run the offense in those settings, including handling the noise and signals away from home.

Since then, Sanders has had little room to show what he can do. Through Cleveland's first five games, team statistics listed one pass from Sanders, completed for no gain against Carolina. The Browns entered the week at 3-2, second in the AFC North. Watson is in the final season of a contract that reporters have described as costly. In a 17-12 loss to the New York Jets, he completed 15 of 33 passes for 155 yards and a touchdown, and he was sacked eight times.

The reaction around the league has been mixed in tone but fairly consistent in one area: people see Sanders as a player with a future. Monken praised Sanders after a preseason game against the Buffalo Bills, where Sanders led a touchdown drive and showed improved decision-making. NFL reporter Jonathan Jones reported that general manager Andrew Berry is said to have great affection for Sanders and believes he can develop into a starter. Jones also described a pre-deadline trade involving Sanders as a "stunner." Armando Salguero reported that the timing of the agent hire has led some around the league to believe Sanders may be preparing to press for a trade, citing multiple NFL sources who shared that view. Those reports are speculative, and no trade request has been publicly confirmed.

Sanders and Hunter also worked with SMAC Entertainment in college, and SMAC's CEO described their relationship as "a real friendship and family dynamic that won't end when their time at Colorado's up." The agency timing also echoes a reported recent case. Marvin Harrison Jr. signed with an agency this season, and that move played a lead role in his trade from Arizona to Houston.

The story matters because it ties a prominent hip-hop executive and his agency to one of the league's most visible young quarterbacks. It also fits a broader pattern in which Young Money APAA represents Colorado players who came out of Deion Sanders' program. That is a place where the music business and the sports business overlap in a very direct way, and it gives the agency a stake in how the next few seasons unfold for these players.

The NFL trade deadline is November 10 at 4 p.m. Eastern. Whether Sanders pursues a move or gets the opportunity Wayne described in Cleveland remains unresolved in public reporting. Watch the Browns depth chart and any roster news between now and the deadline, because that is where the next answer will show up.