Shedeur Sanders’ Draft Slide Wasn’t About Talent—So What Happened?

The 2025 NFL Draft was memorable for many reasons. In the Big 12, we saw two players selected in the first eight picks, Iowa State had four players drafted in the first four rounds, and a total of seven running backs from the conference heard their names called last weekend.

Yet despite all of those great things, the biggest storyline—not just in the Big 12 but in the entire draft—was Colorado quarterback Shedeur Sanders. That was all anyone talked about all weekend long. Even longtime draft guru Mel Kiper had a meltdown on live television when it came to the topic of Sanders.

To be fair, we have never seen a fall like that in recent memory. In fact, Mel Kiper himself said in his forty-plus years of doing the draft, he has never had a player with a first-round grade fall all the way to the fifth round. And to me, Shedeur’s fall may be the biggest in NFL Draft history.

But the biggest question coming out—even days later—is why did Shedeur Sanders fall all the way to pick number 144? Some people will say it’s racism, or simply say that he wasn’t that good and deserved to be a fifth-round draft pick.

I’m sorry, but you don’t break countless records at Colorado and earn Big 12 Offensive Player of the Year without being a good player. Then you throw in the fact that the man had one of the worst offensive lines in college football in front of him, and it makes what he did even that much more impressive.

One thing that has been said over the past few days is that a lot of teams didn’t give Shedeur a first-round grade. Now that is something I can believe. The quarterback class this year wasn’t elite by any means, and everyone knows that next year’s class will be better overall.

If teams didn’t have Shedeur Sanders as a first-rounder, that’s fine—but did anyone have him with a fifth-round grade on his play alone? I seriously doubt it. There were a total of five quarterbacks who heard their names called before Sanders. In all honesty, were there five quarterbacks in this draft class who were better, as a player, than Shedeur? Not a chance.

No offense to guys like Tyler Shough, Jalen Milroe, or even Dillon Gabriel—who, by the way, the Browns also took—but none of them are even on the same level as Shedeur when it comes to playing quarterback at the next level.

The real reason Sanders fell all the way to the fifth round is because of things off the field. People didn’t like his attitude or the way he conducted himself. I will say that Shedeur has never been arrested or gotten into trouble with the law, but that didn’t matter to most people.

People didn’t like the fact that he is cocky, and they think he’s selfish. Then you throw in the fact that he is the son of NFL Hall of Famer Deion Sanders, and it makes things even more complicated.

Everyone knows that Deion isn’t afraid to speak his mind. No matter if he’s right or wrong, he is going to tell you exactly how he feels. I respect that as a writer, but sometimes things are better left unsaid. And like father, like son—Shedeur is no different.

NFL teams saw this as an issue because they don’t want their franchise quarterback to be cocky, outspoken, and, in their eyes, selfish. They want a guy who can rally the team and be a leader of men. And a lot of general managers and owners didn’t see him as being worthy of a Day One or Day Two selection.

The Cleveland Browns took a flyer on Shedeur Sanders. They took Oregon quarterback Dillon Gabriel two rounds prior to selecting Shedeur. It’s very rare that a team drafts two quarterbacks in the same draft. Now it’s time to see if the Browns will regret drafting Shedeur—or be glad they did. The good news is that we won’t have to wait too long for the answer.