Years ago, when Shedeur Sanders chose to wear #2, it was a tribute to his father, Deion Sanders, who wore the same number at Florida State. Though the younger Sanders would have loved to keep the tradition going in the NFL by wearing #2, it was simply not possible after the Cleveland Browns, the team that drafted him in 2025, also signed wide receiver DeAndre Carter. The veteran wore the coveted number after Sanders gave it up last season.

But with a new season coming up, the quarterback will have a new number, too. Or, should I rather say he will switch back to the old one? Well, the latest intel is that Sanders, who wore #12 during his first season in the league, is about to change it.

“S2⌚Shedeur Sanders will wear number 2 next season,” the Cleveland Browns confirmed on social media.

But it doesn’t end here. The quarterback, too, took to social media to announce the switch and mentioned a simple, “Thank you God,” and his father was right there in the comment section expressing the same: “Yes Lawd!”

Here’s the thing: When Sanders went to Cleveland, he was asked whether he would simply try to buy off the number from Carter. Long answer short, it was a no. The quarterback didn’t want to buy the number. His signing bonus wasn’t that high, he joked. But truth be told, he was simply waiting for the right time.

For a while, that door stayed shut. Carter, signed to a one-year deal with the Browns, held onto No. 2 until the season took a turn. After Week 4, a knee injury landed him on injured reserve, and by the time the dust settled, he had moved on as a free agent. And just like that, the number was waiting for Sanders to claim it.

He wore the #2 during his time at Trinity Christian School and later at Jackson State. It followed him to Colorado. And in 2025, his legacy was cemented when Colorado chose to retire his number, placing it alongside Travis Hunter’s No. 12 during the program’s spring game. All that said, long before #2 carried any meaning for Sanders, his father, Deion Sanders, had already made it iconic at Florida State Seminoles football, so much so that they retired it in 1995.

Now, Sanders will don the jersey number he has had a lot of success with. After a successful high school tenure, the QB recorded 7,364 yards and 64 touchdowns in his two-year college career at Colorado. He also finished third in the nation in passing yards. However, unlike Sanders, the number two jersey hasn’t worked out well for the Cleveland Browns over the years, with Carter playing only four games while recording zero receptions.

Then, in the 2024 season, Bailey Zappe wore number two in one game as the backup quarterback. He finished 16-of-31 for 170 yards with one touchdown and two interceptions in a 35-10 loss to the Baltimore Ravens.

Similarly, other quarterbacks like Johnny Manziel and Tim Couch have also donned the number two but failed to create a positive impact on the franchise. So far, wideout Amari Cooper has been the most successful player to ever wear number two in Cleveland, with his back-to-back 1,000-yard seasons in 2022-23, catching 14 touchdowns in 32 games.

Now, the onus will be on Shedeur Sanders to break this curse by putting forth an improved performance after a year where he finished with 1,400 yards, 7 touchdowns, and 10 interceptions, with a 56.6% completion rate. Drafted 144th overall, he added 169 rushing yards and 1 rushing touchdown, with the team going 3-4 in his final seven starts.

However, this could prove to be a tall task for Shedeur Sanders, with speculation around the return of veteran quarterback Deshaun Watson. The 30-year-old went down with his second Achilles injury in the  2024 season and is expected to get a bigger opportunity to play, per Cleveland Browns owner Jimmy Haslam’s recent comments.

Browns owner hopes for a “fresh start” for Watson in 2026

After a stellar start to his NFL career with three Pro Bowl appearances while leading the Houston Texans to two AFC South titles (2018, 2019) and a 10-6 record in 2019, the world came crashing down for Watson in 2021. He sat out that season after demanding a trade and facing 22 civil lawsuits alleging sexual misconduct.

With the Browns expressing interest, Watson was traded to Cleveland and signed a five-year, $230 million fully guaranteed contract in March 2022. Then, as the next season began, Watson was suspended for the first 11 games of the 2022 season for violating the NFL’s personal conduct policy. After his return, his game went down even before he sustained multiple injuries.

Watson played six games each in 2022 and 2023 and seven in 2024 before his Achilles tear ended his season. However, ahead of the 2026 season, with the veteran signal-caller returning to full fitness, the Browns’ owner, Jimmy Haslam, believes a fresh start with new head coach Todd Monken is on the cards.

“Deshaun has a great chance, a fresh start, an offensive-minded coach who has in his past been able to work with all kinds of different quarterbacks and make them successful,” Haslam said at the annual league meeting in Phoenix. “So, Deshaun has a great chance to do that now. We talked to him the other day, and he said he weighs the [least] he has in several years. He’s in great shape, he’ll be [in Cleveland] on April 7 when we start [the offseason workout program]. Let’s see what Deshaun can do. We’re all excited.”

Whether Deshaun Watson will return to his Pro-Bowl form, only time will tell. But in the meantime, the veteran signal-caller will face tough competition from Shedeur Sanders, who also hopes to lock down the QB1 role.