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Shedeur Sanders Plummets in Latest NFL Mock Draft

Originally posted on Athlon Sports | By Nate Lunak | Last updated Feb 21, 2025 12:17 PM ET

Colorado's Shedeur Sanders is widely considered one of the two best quarterback options available in the 2025 NFL Draft, alongside Miami's Cam Ward.

Of course, considering that he plays what is thought to be the most important position for a football team, there's a belief that he could go off the board extremely early and maybe even in play to be the No. 1 pick.

However, in a mock draft done by Tom Fornielli of CBS Sports, he predicts Sanders will fall to the Cleveland Browns at No. 22, who acquire the pick from the Los Angeles Chargers in exchange for defensive end Myles Garrett.

"Didn't plan for this, but with Shedeur Sanders slipping, Cleveland is able to replace Myles Garrett with its first pick of the day [Abdul Carter at No. 2] and snag its QB of the future with one of the firsts it got from the Chargers in the Garrett trade," he wrote.

For Sanders, this would be a major falloff, and even in Fornielli's latest mock draft before this, he wound up going to the Las Vegas Raiders at No. 6.

Him to the browns, though, isn't an extremely unlikely scenario because he's also in play to be their No. 2 pick and could eventually take over for quarterback Deshaun Watson, who had surgery to repair a re-rupture Achilles in early January and is set to become a free agent at the end of 2026.

This could give Sanders a year or two to sit on the bench and become more familiar with the offense and playing speed of the NFL rather than being a team's full-time starter his rookie year.

This article first appeared on Athlon Sports and was syndicated with permission.

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