The Colorado Buffaloes fan suing the NFL for $100 million over Shedeur Sanders’ stunning 2025 draft slide claims that there’s a conspiracy theory behind the saga.
A 55-year-old Georgia man, only referred to as “John Doe” in a court filing, is suing the NFL for nine figures. The man claims that he experienced “severe emotional distress and trauma” that was brought on by Shedeur Sanders’ shocking fall in the draft.
Sanders, the consensus No. 2 quarterback behind Cam Ward, was widely expected to be a top-10 pick in the 2025 NFL Draft. Some scouts and analysts even thought he would go as high as third overall to the New York Giants, but Sanders unexpectedly fell to the fifth round before the Cleveland Browns took him at No. 144 overall.
Speaking to the Daily Mail, the disgruntled “John Doe” claims that there was “an illegal conspiracy” that led to Sanders’ draft fall:
“That is the function of the lawsuit. We should get access to all the teams that he’s talked to, every team that he’s interviewed [with] so we can dispel the notions that he tanked his interviews and things of that nature.
‘We should be able to get all the scouts that visited Colorado and their notes to prove that he had a high draft grade. And then we will have to prove… how did he go from one draft grade to being taken off the board.
Just mounting frustration from the anxiety that I experienced, some of the trauma, the disappointment and frustration that I was feeling when I’d seen that Shedeur didn’t get drafted at his projected draft spot.
Just to realize that a person was feeling that vulnerable and he couldn’t fight back and then I was just frustrated to the point where I’m like: ”Well if he’s not allowed to fight back, I guess I’ll go ahead and file my lawsuit against them because of the trauma that it caused me.”
Shedeur Sanders joins a crowded Cleveland quarterback room featuring fellow rookie Dillon Gabriel (a third-round pick), offseason trade pickup Kenny Pickett, 2023 Comeback Player of the Year Joe Flacco and Deshaun Watson. The latter is expected to miss most (and potentially all) of 2025 after re-tearing his Achilles.
In his final season of college, Sanders completed 74 percent of pass attempts for 4,134 yards, 37 touchdowns and 10 interceptions.
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Shedeur Sanders’ NFL Story Hasn’t Been Written Yet
Sanders may have felt discouraged following his unexpected draft fall, but by no means has his NFL story been decided. Remember, Tom Brady (a sixth-round pick), Joe Montana (third-round pick), Kurt Warner (undrafted) and Roger Staubach (10th-round pick) weren’t exactly highly-touted quarterbacks coming out of college.
If Sanders commits the time and effort to honing his craft and understanding the NFL playbooks, he’ll be a star in this league.
