The first round of the 2025 NFL Draft concluded a week ago, but the main talking point remains Shedeur Sanders’ stunning fall.
Shedeur Sanders was the consensus No. 2 quarterback prospect in this year’s draft, behind Miami product and eventual No. 1 pick Cam Ward (Tennessee Titans). But in one of the most shocking draft falls in league history, Sanders wasn’t even a day-two pick.
Sanders had to wait until the fifth round, when the Cleveland Browns took him at No. 144 overall. Even that pick was a bit of a surprise, as the Browns used a third-round selection (No. 94 overall) on Dillon Gabriel.
Well, a new report from Henry McKenna of Fox Sports indicates that Sanders caused his own draft stock to fall because of a failed pre-draft interview. A source told McKenna that Sanders was “unprepared” for a meeting with an NFL team that held a top-seven draft pick:
“A league source told FOX Sports that a top-seven team asked Sanders to study its playbook for an install at their interview, but he showed up unprepared and instead used the time to interview the team’s leadership.
He asked what the plan was to support him. That question might have been OK — after he scored an A+ on the install. But because Sanders didn’t do the work the team requested, the questions came off as presumptuous.”
The Titans held the No. 1 pick, followed by the Browns (No. 2), New York Giants (No. 3), New England Patriots (No. 4), Jacksonville Jaguars (No. 5), Las Vegas Raiders (No. 6) and New York Jets (No. 7).
New England (Drake Maye) and Jacksonville (Trevor Lawrence) already have young QBs, so Shedeur Sanders presumably failed his draft interview with one of the other teams. The Jets are also unlikely, though, since they signed Justin Fields in free agency.
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Regardless of Shedeur Sanders’ talent, other teams may have been worried about a potential media circus that would have followed if they drafted him. Don’t forget the non-stop rumors leading up to the draft that Deion Sanders could quit Colorado to coach his son in the NFL.
Shedeur Sanders Still Has To Write His NFL Story
Sanders may be a fifth-round pick, but his NFL story isn’t over by any means.
There’s no shortage of NFL quarterbacks who found great success despite being a mid or late-round pick. Tom Brady (sixth-round pick), Joe Montana (third-round pick), and Brett Favre (second-round pick) carved out excellent NFL careers, and even Kurt Warner went undrafted before emerging as a two-time MVP and Super Bowl-winning QB.
Sanders still has a promising NFL career ahead of him. He just has to put the work in.
