NFL career over? Shedeur Sanders could return to college football after being overlooked by the Browns

C ollege football ’s rapidly changing eligibility rules have already opened the door for some NFL players to head back to school. Now, Shedeur Sanders and J.J. McCarthy have been floated as two of the most dramatic names who could theoretically follow.

Media personality Charlie Kravitz raised the possibility on The Dominique Foxworth Show, pointing to recent legal developments involving players from the 2022 recruiting class.

“I think we’re going to see Shedeur Sanders or J.J. McCarthy play college football again,” Kravitz said. “That’s an intrusive thought. I don’t know if it’ll actually happen.”

He added: “There was the ruling that if you have eligibility left from the 2022 recruiting class, which they’re both in, you can come back and play again.”

The scenario remains highly speculative. Both quarterbacks are still firmly in the NFL, and neither has indicated he is preparing to leave.

But the fact that the conversation is even possible shows how uncertain the line between college and professional football has become.

Shedeur Sanders would create huge Colorado storyline

A return by Sanders would immediately become one of the biggest stories in the sport. He has already lost the Cleveland Browns ’ Week 1 starting job to Deshaun Watson , but his NFL future is hardly over.

Sanders played eight games in 2025, helped Cleveland reach the postseason and remained in the quarterback competition deep into this summer.

His biggest challenge has been mastering the operational demands of Todd Monken ’s offense.

“Todd has been trying to tell us over and over and over again that Shedeur still needs to come up the learning curve on that kind of stuff,” Browns reporter Mary Kay Cabot said.

“You have to have a certain amount of comfortability with the system, with the scheme to be able to run the show.”

Still, Kravitz couldn't resist imagining the spectacle of Sanders returning to Colorado to play again for his father, Deion Sanders : “It’s the perfect 2026 media story,” he said.

He even floated the idea of boosters putting together a massive NIL package and Colorado unretiring Sanders’ jersey for another season.

How strange eligibility has become

McCarthy has also been mentioned because of the same eligibility discussion, although his situation makes a return just as unlikely.

He's currently the immediate backup to Kyler Murray with the Minnesota Vikings , leaving him with a realistic route to NFL playing time if circumstances change.

The broader issue stems from a new NCAA eligibility model and a temporary restraining order issued by a Louisiana judge that created a potential opening for some players whose college eligibility had otherwise expired.

That opening has already produced unusual moves. Dae’Quan Wright and Zxavian Harris have left NFL training camps to return to college football, proving the concept is no longer purely hypothetical.

Even so, Sanders and McCarthy would represent a completely different level of attention. Neither appears close to leaving the NFL, and both still have meaningful professional opportunities in front of them.

But in the current college football landscape, the once-impossible question is suddenly being asked. Could an NFL quarterback simply go back?