A few months ago, Colorado Buffaloes quarterback Shedeur Sanders was firmly in the No. 1 overall pick conversation. Fast forward to the 2025 NFL Draft and Sanders went No. 144 overall, going in the fifth round to the Cleveland Browns.
What a surprising turn of events it was, and nobody has a clear answer for why Sanders lasted until Day 3 of the NFL Draft.
Was it because of his interviews? Was it his attitude? Or were teams just not too thrilled with his tape? Nonetheless, questions remain as to why teams passed on him time and time again.
On Monday, several intel pieces dropped with NFL coaches, analysts, and agents chiming in on the Sanders debacle.
What NFL Agents, Coaches and More Are Saying About Shedeur Sanders
Where do we even begin?
Bruce Feldman of The Athletic dropped some NFL Draft takeaways, and plenty of NFL people dished on Sanders.
“He’s got a skill set, but no dominant trait. He’s a backup at this point, and those guys have to be wired for humble support of the starter,” one NFL WR coach revealed. “He’s got a skill set, but no dominant trait. He’s a backup at this point, and those guys have to be wired for humble support of the starter."
“Shedeur has some leaks in his throwing motion,” an NFL offensive coordinator told Feldman a few weeks before the draft. “But I do like the kid. I think he’s smart. He’s tough. I hate the system he played in...He doesn’t have an exceptional arm or running ability. He’s streaky.”
Another NFL OC had some mixed feelings on Sanders: “He’s really developmental. He’s a good QB. He’s tough as hell. He’s not overly mobile.”
To go even further, Tyler Dragon of USA TODAY also received intel from others, including former NFL RB and current analyst Maurice Jones-Drew.
“He’s a really good quarterback but doesn’t have traits that jump off the chart. Doesn’t mean he’s not good, but he’s not the fastest and doesn’t have the strongest arm.”
An anonymous NFL agent also had some thoughts on Sanders: "Is the juice worth the squeeze? And when the juice has some flaws, the squeeze of managing the personality and dad equal it not being worth it in a lot of instances."
Another agent had a similar sentiment regarding Sanders: “In terms of Shedeur’s pre-draft projection, there’s a lot of amateur scouting in the media and there’s a lot of misinformation that comes from clubs and agents. Given Shedeur’s notoriety, there’s a greater probability of misinformation because it’s low-hanging fruit for information seekers."
So, there are a lot of red flags that happened with Sanders, and maybe that explains his draft slide.
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