Shedeur Sanders’ monumental slide into the fifth round was the biggest and most perplexing story of the 2025 NFL Draft. How did the Colorado Buffaloes quarterback, who was projected as high as a top-10 pick, end up falling to the Cleveland Browns with the 144th?
A few days removed from the draft, FOX Sports personalities reflected on Sanders’ situation and tried to make sense of what happened. But the reality is that there’s not one simple explanation.
From differing perceptions of his talent, to his approach to the pre-draft process, to the “baggage” that accompanied him, here’s what our analysts had to say about why Sanders waited as long as he did to get drafted.
Reason No. 1: Shedeur Sanders wasn’t viewed as a first-round talent
Sanders was a polarizing prospect. While he set passing records at Colorado and finished the 2024 season with the highest completion percentage (74.1%) in FBS, he also led the nation in sacks taken and entered the draft with questions about his pocket presence and mobility.
Many draft analysts ranked Sanders as one of the top quarterbacks in this class alongside No. 1 pick Cam Ward, but it was also not a deep year at the position. It’s clear now that NFL front offices weren’t as high on Sanders as evaluators in the media were.
“How did the groupthink get to a point where not one media member had a source who was a general manager who was willing to say, ‘You’re all crazy. This kid is not going in the first round,'” Danny Parkins said on “Breakfast Ball” on Monday. “Nobody had it. Nobody had it … Man, we all got duped by groupthink because, clearly, the NFL did not view this kid as a first-round pick based on talent or personality.”
Is it shocking Shedeur Sanders fell to the 5th round | Breakfast Ball
“From the talent perspective, he’s not a generational talent like his father is a generational talent. So if you’re not a generational talent, you better ace the other parts, the intangible parts of the process. And by all accounts, he did not ace the intangible aspect of it,” Mark Schlereth added.
“For everybody else to be offended that he didn’t get drafted where they wanted him to, I don’t get that at all,” Craig Carton chimed in. “Maybe he didn’t get drafted where they thought he’d get drafted because talent scouts don’t think he’s as good as he thinks he is.”
Is it surprising Shedeur Sanders fell all the way to the 5th round | The Herd
Colin Cowherd relayed what an NFL executive told him about Sanders on “The Herd” on Monday: “This executive said, ‘If he doesn’t go in the first six to eight picks at the top of the second round, then people view him as a backup.”
The first two rounds of the draft, especially, are stockpiled with potential NFL starters. If there was a feeling that Sanders was not a starter, then it’s understandable why he wasn’t drafted in the first couple of rounds.
That being said, Sanders dropping all the way to the fifth round doesn’t tell the whole story.
Reason No. 2: Teams didn’t want to be part of the Sanders family “circus”
Shedeur Sanders and his father Deion made the past two seasons at Colorado into a reality show. The team went a combined 13-12, but was treated and covered like a national-championship contender. The Sanders’ family held a flamboyant draft party and played up their celebrity status over recent months. That’s not something NFL teams are exactly lining up to deal with, especially if he’s not a sure-fire starter.
“Nobody wants a celebrity backup quarterback,” Cowherd said.
“Deion went coast to coast telling people, ‘If the wrong team drafted his son, he was going to pull an Eli Manning,'” Carton said, referring to the 2004 draft when Manning, who was the clear No. 1 pick, made it explicit that he wouldn’t play for the San Diego Chargers.
“Everyone says and claims he didn’t interview well,” Carton added. “He does come with baggage and not everyone wants that.”
“Deion — who has many friends in the media, saying, during the Super Bowl, in multiple interviews, ‘We will dictate terms, we will not play for certain teams — and then between Shedeur sandbagging interviews, that probably explains (his slide),” Cowherd said.
Bruce Feldman, a FOX Sports contributor, wrote an article at The Athletic citing a former quarterbacks coach who said that Shedeur hurt himself by not participating in the Senior Bowl or at the NFL Scouting Combine. “The intel (he) was getting on Sanders was shocking: He had no self-awareness,” Cowherd shared on “The Herd.”
Reason No. 3: Not many teams needed a starting QB in this draft
Even if teams did view Sanders as an NFL starter, or with the potential to be one, “there were not a lot of teams that needed a quarterback that would come in as a rookie and start for them,” Keyshawn Johnson said on “Speak” on Monday.
Shedeur Sanders dropping to the 5th Round – What went wrong? | Speak
The Tennessee Titans picked Ward. The New York Giants signed Russell Wilson and Jameis Winston, and preferred Jaxson Dart over Sanders. The Las Vegas Raiders have Geno Smith. The Seattle Seahawks replaced Smith with Sam Darnold.
So, that left the New Orleans Saints, Pittsburgh Steelers and Browns as starter-needy teams. The Saints decided to draft Tyler Shough in the second round. The Steelers, who selected Will Howard in the sixth round, are still talking to free-agent quarterback Aaron Rodgers.
And the Browns, who also used a third-round pick on Oregon quarterback Dillon Gabriel, ultimately decided to add Sanders too.
Browns select Shedeur Sanders at No. 144 pick, what drop says about the QB | First Things First
“As he started sliding, and we got past all the teams that needed quarterbacks multiple times, it could have easily gone further,” Eric Mangini said on “First Things First.”
“I think this was: ownership decided in Cleveland.”
No matter who made the decision, Sanders did get drafted. And he will have an opportunity to prove himself in the NFL — and prove his doubters wrong.
[MORE: Shedeur Sanders now has the chance to shut everyone up]
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