6 days Ago By Athlon Sports
Arguably the biggest story of the 2025 NFL draft was Colorado quarterback Shedeur Sanders falling all the way to Round 5 where he was picked by the Cleveland Browns two rounds after they took another QB — Oregon’s Dillon Gabriel.A few national analysts like ESPN’s Mel Kiper Jr. and Fox Sports’ Joel Klatt furiously defended Sanders, claiming the NFL was simply making an example out of him due to his famous father, Colorado head coach and Dallas Cowboys legend Deion Sanders, and his overly confident personality, which they said some often mistake for arrogance.
However, others like Sports Illustrated’s Albert Breer argued that Sanders’ draft slot was correctly on par with where NFL talent evaluators believed he should be.And now in the aftermath of all the speculation and conspiracy theories, several reports have emerged detailing troubling incidents that help Sanders’ four-round draft fall make a lot more sense.The Ringer’s Todd McShay reported over the weekend that Sanders rubbed New York Giants head coach Brian Daboll the wrong way during a pre-draft meeting in which the 23-year-old QB was called out for not being prepared.
A graphic announcing Colorado quarterback Shedeur Sanders’ selection by the Cleveland Browns with the 144th overall pick is seen in the Draft Theater during the third day of the 2025 NFL draft.Tork MasonUSA Today Network via Imagn ImagesAnd now another concerning report has emerged from FS1’s Colin Cowherd about Sanders’ brash personality getting him into even more trouble, which likely led to teams shying away from him during the draft.“At one point, one of the few teams that actually was interested in him said, ‘Well, what do you make of this rally bad play?’” Cowherd said.
“And Shedeur said, ‘Maybe I’m not the guy for you.’ That’s not the answer since there were only three or four teams in the first round that were going to consider [drafting him] now that Pittsburgh apparently has a deal with Aaron Rodgers, so take them out.“Another moment — teams will install mistakes intentionally planted in the install, and they want you to catch it,” Cowherd said.
“Shedeur didn’t, and the coach called him out, and once again, it didn’t sit well. It’s like bro, there’s not that many teams needing quarterbacks.”"When a coach called him out.
.. it didn't sit well.
"@ColinCowherd discusses the 2 red flags that reportedly appeared during Shedeur Sanders' pre-draft interviews. pic.twitter.
com/9FWawyPssK— Herd w/Colin Cowherd (@TheHerd) April 29, 2025Cowherd’s report lines up with what a few anonymous NFL personnel said about Sanders after the combine when he was accused of being arrogant and not caring what certain NFL teams though of him.It also seemingly reinforces what former NFL QB Boomer Esiason reported on Monday about many teams not even considering drafting Sanders because of his conceitedness.“I’m telling you right now, and I know this after talking to three different personnel people in the NFL this weekend, they didn’t even have him on their board,” Esiason stated.
“They took him off, and they took him off because the owner said, ‘Take him off, I don’t want that guy. I don’t want this..
.entitled person on our team,’ and I don’t blame them.”Related: Details Emerge of Troubling Pre-Draft Incident Between Giants, Shedeur Sanders.
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