The 2025 NFL draft has come and gone and Shedeur Sanders, son of legendary cornerback Deion Sanders, fell all the way down to the 144 pick to the Cleveland Browns. During the college football(CFB) season Sanders was projected to go first overall for several weeks, but Sanders’s draft stock tanked once the postseason draft interviews took place. Reports came out that Sanders purposely bombed interviews for teams he didn’t want to play for and came unprepared in an interview with the New York Giants. Sanders’s off the field antics and attitude were also a big question mark when it came to his character, as Sanders released a song during the CFB season called “Perfect Timing.” Say what you want about Sanders and his attitude, but his on-field talent is great and is the main reason he was first projected to go in the first round. The Browns are a team that desperately needed a quarterback (QB) for the future with current QB Deshaun Watson’s future in question. Not only did the Browns draft Sanders, but they also drafted Dillon Gabriel, a QB out of Oregon with the 94th pick. There are now five QBs on the team with veteran Joe Flaco at the helm of it all. If you are an NFL general manager of teams like the Pittsburgh Steelers or New Orleans Saints, not picking up Sanders is a mistake. The Steelers currently have Mason Rudolph as their QB, a subpar player that hasn’t had a good season in years. If the rumors are true the Steelers are targeting veteran QB and Super Bowl champion Aaron Rodgers, but why target a player who is in the last few years of his career over a young star like Sanders?
Going to the five QB deep room of the Browns puts Sanders behind the 8 ball, as the Browns are already seen as a QB graveyard. This puts Sanders in a position to fail off the jump; you can’t put a star like Sanders on a team like this and expect him to be the next big thing. Not drafting Sanders because of his interviews is downright wrong as not all players test and interview very well, which leads me to believe there is more of a reason behind this decision. Could it be that teams simply didn’t want to deal with his father giving constant input, could it be that scouts saw something we didn’t, or could it be that Sanders just isn’t the talent we think he is?
Despite all of these questions and Sanders falling this deep in the draft, Sanders has the best-selling jersey in the entire draft class. As long as he is in the league there will be talks of Sanders either being amazing or being a “bust” for his entire career. You cannot completely expect Sanders to succeed in the current position he is in and then ridicule him when he doesn’t, because it is not fair nor his fault that teams like the Steelers, who desperately needed a new QB, decided to pass him up. No matter Sanders’ situation there was absolutely no reason for him to fall this late in the draft.