Everyone has a take on why Shedeur Sanders wasn't drafted earlier than the fifth round by the Cleveland Browns in the 2025 NFL draft, but Las Vegas Raiders superstar edge rusher Maxx Crosby has a simple explanation.
One of the theories out there is that teams colluded to make Sanders slide, although there is zero evidence that is the case, and it's kind of outlandish to think 32 teams, including the one that drafted Sanders, would join forces for something like that.
Crosby shared his thoughts on the legendary draft slide Sanders saw last weekend during an episode of "The Rush with Maxx Crosby" podcast and he clearly doesn't subscribe to the aforementioned theory.
“The NFL is the NFL,” he said. “They don’t give a [expletive] about who you are, what you’re about, all that, and I think Shedeur – I love Shedeur to death. That’s my little brother. I’ve been trying to help him for a long time. I’ve been in his corner during the whole process. I think his chip on his shoulder is going to grow.”
Like the rest of us, Crosby was shocked to see Sanders fall out of the first round, and was even more surprised to see him drop to the fifth.
“When he dropped out of the first round, I was shocked,” Crosby said. “When he dropped to the fifth, I’m like, ‘Holy [expletive]’ I knew there was a possibility he could drop later in the first round, maybe early second. That was kind of the consensus.
"Everyone thought he was going in the first. Then, it just kept going and going and going, I was like, ‘I cannot believe this [expletive] right now,’” Crosby added.
Despite all the hoopla surrounding Sanders and his personality, if teams thought he was worthy of an earlier pick, he would've been selected, plain and simple. This idea that there was some kind of backroom deal to keep Sanders falling is silly.
We see it all the time: NFL draft experts rank a player highly, only to see the player go much later than anticipated. It's yet another example that the draft boards of actual teams don't always line up with those of experts.
The Raiders were one of many teams that were thought to have interest in Sanders, but Las Vegas passed on him a whopping seven times before he ultimately landed with the Browns. The trade for Geno Smith likely played a large role in that.
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