NFL insider expands on how Browns' Shedeur Sanders handled predraft process

For an article published on Monday, The Athletic's Mike Jones noted that Colorado quarterback Shedeur Sanders "bombed multiple team interviews" ahead of the 2025 NFL Draft. 

That caused some clubs to think, per Jones, that "he was either sandbagging them to ensure that certain teams didn’t draft him or that he simply lacked respect for the process and/or the men sitting across from him." 

Once thought to be a potential top-10 pick, Sanders ultimately fell to the draft's fifth round before the Cleveland Browns traded up to select him with the No. 144 overall choice. On Monday, NFL insider Albert Breer of Sports Illustrated offered more information about how Sanders' "handling of the predraft process didn’t indicate to teams that he’d adjust" to possibly being a backup at the highest level. 

"A lot of times in combine meetings," Breer explained, "teams will have a player’s worst plays ready for him when he enters the room and, along those lines, one had a particularly rough interception teed up for Sanders in Indianapolis (at the combine). When asked to explain it, Sanders didn’t take blame. And as they dove deeper into it, and how it might relate to the NFL level, Sanders simply concluded that maybe he and the staff he was talking to might not be a match."

Roughly one month after it was reported that Sanders "hit the wrong notes" in interviews with some teams during the combine, former NFL player/executive and current ESPN analyst Louis Riddick suggested the polarizing prospect didn't want to end up with the Browns, Tennessee Titans or New York Giants. One unnamed "longtime NFL assistant coach" later said Sanders was part of "the worst formal interview" that coach had ever experienced. 

"Ahead of another visit," Breer added about Sanders, "he got an install with mistakes intentionally planted in it — done to see if a quarterback would catch them. Sanders didn’t catch them. A coach called him on it, and the resulting exchange wasn’t pretty."

Giants head coach Brian Daboll allegedly wasn't thrilled with how Sanders did/didn't prepare for his interview with Big Blue. The Giants grabbed Penn State pass-rusher Abdul Carter with the draft's third pick and then traded back into the first round to take Ole Miss quarterback Jaxson Dart at selection No. 25.

"I think this is why teams saw Sanders carrying out what his father, Colorado coach Deion Sanders, said he would in trying to steer himself away from certain places," Breer continued. "The idea, for a top pick, isn’t the worst concept. It’s something Eli Manning did a generation ago. The problem is that Sanders wasn’t considered the prospect he was built up to be by the people who matter — the ones who were doing the picking over the weekend."

One would think the Browns drafting Oregon quarterback Dillon Gabriel at pick No. 94 shows they believe Gabriel has a better chance than Sanders to be the club's long-term answer at the position. That said, Sanders should be given an opportunity to compete with Gabriel, veteran Joe Flacco and former Pittsburgh Steelers QB1 Kenny Pickett for the Cleveland starting job this summer.

If nothing else, it could be interesting to see how Sanders reacts to potentially being QB4 on a depth chart later this spring.