A month or so ago, Colorado Buffaloes quarterback Shedeur Sanders was deemed a prime candidate to go no worse than the first or second round in the 2025 NFL Draft.
As the draft enters its final day, Sanders has yet to be picked causing previous pre-draft narratives to resurface throughout the NFL media landscape.
The New Orleans Saints, Las Vegas Raiders, Pittsburgh Steelers and Cleveland Browns were all deemed as ideal landing spots during the second and third rounds of the NFL Draft. Each team passed on him yesterday with the Browns and Saints taking perceived lesser quarterback talents in college journeymen Dillon Gabriel and Tyler Shough respectively.
According to New Orleans. Football’s Nick Underhill, Saints head coach Kellen Moore said the team was high on Shedeur but felt Louisville product Tyler Shough “was the right fit for them” in the second round.
Browns general manager Andrew Berry was asked about the Browns bypassing Shedeur for Oregon quarterback Dillon Gabriel in the third round, and he provided a unique answer.
“All I can say is this: The time that we spent with Shedeur and what he’s done throughout his college career is impressive. He’s an impressive young man. He’s a really good quarterback,” Berry said. “Sometimes, fit comes into play. And I’d also say this: there are four more rounds of the draft. Lastly, it’s less about where you get picked [than]
what you do after you get picked. That’s really the most important thing. Getting to know him over the course of the spring, he has a ton of resolve, and I think he’s going to find himself in a really good spot.”
From two consecutive organizations, the narrative around Sanders is that he’s talented but not the ideal fit for its NFL team. Such a statement brought back the constant pre-draft narratives made about Sanders that grew legs at the end of the NFL scouting combine.
According to NBC Sports Matthew Berry, the Big 12 Offensive Player of the Year and son of Deion Sanders left a negative impression on two members from two different NFL organizations.
They both said it was a bad meeting and that he came off as unprofessional and disinterested,” Berry wrote in his combine recap. “Both also said that after the meeting they had a lesser opinion of him than prior. These same people both met with [Miami Hurricanes quarterback]
Cam Ward as well, and both said they loved Ward, and it was a great meeting. Now, I’m not trying to kill the kid. So, I want to give a bunch of caveats. These were just two people. When talking about the projected top two QB picks this year, every team I spoke to loves Ward. And I didn’t hear a ton of positive about Sanders.”
Then there was intel from NFL Draft insider Todd McShay about Shedeur Sanders when it came to the All-Conference quarterback’s pre-draft relationship with the New York Giants. The comments were made on McShay’s Ringer-based podcast called “The McShay Show” just days before the NFL Draft.
“Shedeur’s not in play with the New York Giants, as far as I’m told,” McShay stated. “An install package came in. Preparation wasn’t there for it. Got called out on it, didn’t like that. Brian (Daboll) didn’t appreciate him not liking it.”
Sanders possesses the smarts, accuracy, toughness and college experience to be one of the safest prospect bets in his class. However, his interviews with teams and desire to not show his football ability during respective All-Star games and the NFL Scouting Combine may have severely hampered his draft stock.
Shough participated in the Senior Bowl and threw at the scouting combine. So did Dillon Gabriel, Jalen Milroe and Jaxson Dart, all quarterbacks that were selected before Sanders so far in the draft.
It’s hard to forget that Primetime, his Hall of Fame NFL dad, made heavy implications about potentially coaching his son in the NFL and dictating where he would like Sanders to go following the conclusion of his senior season of college football. These things were a knock against Shedeur alongside the fear of his father dictating his son’s pro career.
“The dude’s only played for his dad. When things go wrong, it’s not his fault. He takes a sack, he blames the O-line. He can make the throws. He’s got good accuracy. But does he lock on No. 1 and home in on him? And does the offense tailor for him to read it out?” An unnamed AFC coordinator stated.
“Deion Sanders hasn’t been shy about using social media and press conferences to fire back at any real or perceived slights he has heard about Shedeur during the pre-draft process. “You can’t have your dad saying, ‘I’m going to come put a quarterback coach on blast who said you were arrogant.’ So, he can’t be criticized?”
There’s no denying Sanders has NFL-caliber talent, but he wasn’t looked at by other teams with the likes of Jaxson Dart and Cam Ward as a high-ceiling signal caller. He’s not the most athletic, has a limited arm and shows a tendency to drift against pressure.
Shedeur has also never played football without his dad manning the sidelines as his coach. This brought to head another powerful quote by an unnamed NFC scouting director who during the pre-draft process provided an immersive stance on Shedeur’s potential NFL outlook;
“When you hear all the anecdotal stories about the person, it’s not that he’s a bad kid. He has been so insulated. It’s going to be a culture shock when he really learns how a locker room really operates and how it really works inside a building. He’s had so much input on the offensive game plan and who the coach is, and everything’s been catered to him. When you walk in one of these (NFL) buildings, no one’s going to give a s— about that. No one cares who your dad is. You’re going to have to end up fighting through some adversity. The plays aren’t going to be called to exactly what you want to run. Even last year with Shurmur, a lot of the mistakes he made was stuff that he just decided to call at the line of scrimmage himself, and there’s no recourse of him making those decisions. Whereas, in a real locker room, you make a couple of those decisions, you get your a– ripped so bad that you never want to do it again.”
The slide in itself will be remembered for years to come and with talks around Sanders needing to be open to a return to college if he potentially goes undrafted, there’s a real chance that the narrative on the four-year star isn’t done being written.
