Shedeur Sanders was wandering around a makeshift football field in New Orleans when he agreed to take a few questions from Mail Sport.
Super Bowl LIX was only hours away but the ex-Colorado quarterback was in no mood to give a prediction. He wasn’t very chatty about the 2025 NFL Draft, either.
He wouldn’t say where he wanted to go. As for his emotions? ‘Normal. Chill,’ Sanders said. ‘It’s not going to be great answers you’re going to get out of me,’ the quarterback added. It seems NFL teams didn’t get the responses they were looking for, either.
Sanders had been tipped by many – including his father, NFL legend Deion Sanders – to be top-five pick. He considered himself the best quarterback in the class of 2025. He showed off a silver chain that carried a dollar sign and his mantra: ‘Legendary’
Instead, Sanders suffered a humiliating slide that will dent his pride and cost him tens of millions of dollars in earnings. No one took him in Thursday’s first round. No one wanted him in rounds two or three or four, either.
Instead it wasn’t until Saturday afternoon, and the 144th overall pick, when the Cleveland Browns selected Sanders. They had already drafted another quarterback, Dillon Gabriel, just hours earlier.
Quarterback Shedeur Sanders suffered a humiliating slide at the 2025 NFL Draft this week
The ex-Colorado star was coached and mentored by his father, NFL legend Deion Sanders
View this post on Instagram
Sanders and basketball star Angel Reese became two of the biggest athletes in college sports
No matter that Sanders considered himself the standout selection after a record-breaking couple of years playing under his dad at Colorado. No matter that he was college sport’s most valuable athlete, reportedly making more than $6million through NIL (name, image and likeness) deals. No matter that the Buffaloes even retired his No 12 uniform.
‘All I need is an opportunity,’ Sanders insisted earlier this month. ‘You would be a fool not to pick me.’
Sanders continued: ‘What’s the most important trait about a quarterback? Consistency? Look at the last four years. That’s how I know I’m the best quarterback in the draft… it leads to one guy.’
Sanders’ slide shocked many big names including Donald Trump, who asked: ‘What is wrong with NFL owners, are they STUPID?’
The quarterback himself was taken aback. ‘We all didn’t expect this, of course,’ Sanders told those who had gathered in a specially-designed draft room on Thursday night.
But he has long been a polarizing figure and there had been whispers that Sanders was not convincing NFL teams – both on and off the field.
He was reportedly branded ‘brash’ and ‘arrogant’, while one veteran ᴀssistant coach claimed Sanders gave ‘the worst formal interview I’ve ever been in in my life.’
They told NFL Network: ‘He’s so enтιтled. He takes unnecessary sacks. He never plays on time. He has horrible body language. He blames teammates… but the biggest thing is, he’s not that good.’
One scout claimed Sanders expects ‘special treatment’ while an NFL executive accused him of making others ‘feel small’. ‘He wants to dictate what he’s going to do and what’s best for him,’ they told NFL Network.
The 23-year-old shows off his pᴀssing skills during Colorado’s pro day earlier this month
“You think I’m worried about what critics gonna say?”Shedeur Sanders meets the media pic.twitter.com/y7BYYoyGgp
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) February 28, 2025
Sanders threw a school-record 37 touchdown pᴀsses and 4,134 pᴀssing yards while at Colorado but alarm bells sounded about his size and his off-the-cuff style.
The quarterback was likened to Caleb Williams – the 2024 No 1 pick – just ‘without the elite physical arm talent’. His tendency to take risks and hold on to the ball was said to be making teams ‘nervous’ and ‘hesitant’.
None of that seemed to bother Sanders, who was said to be ‘proceeding as if he was dictating to clubs where he was going to go rather than… the other way (round).’
The quarterback opted not to workout at the Combine or the Big 12 Pro Day. Instead he had his own showcase in Colorado. In February, Sanders told reporters: ‘You think I’m worried about what critics say or what people have to say? You know who my dad is, they hated on him too.’
He added: ‘Without people hating, it’s not normal for us. So we like the adversity, we like everything that comes with the name.’
But the quarterback’s father – who has coached Shedeur at high school and college -did take issue with those comments.
Deion called all the criticism ‘silly’, ‘laughable’ and ‘venomous’, suggesting Shedeur was being targeted because of his last name.
‘Just say you don’t like me. Just say you’re tired of me winning, you’re tired of me being the light,’ he said ahead of the draft. ‘Don’t attack my kids because of that.’
Those sentiments were echoed by the likes of Stephen A. Smith, who claimed that – for teams – ‘the biggest issue in all of this was Primetime Deion Sanders and the thought of having to deal with him.’
One NFL coach claimed Sanders gave ‘the worst formal interview I’ve ever been in in my life’
Shedeur’s chain is insane🥶🥶🥶 pic.twitter.com/aviaJALID2
— Complex Sports (@ComplexSports) April 24, 2025 Read More Fans go wild for New York Giants QB Jaxson Dart’s mom as she steals the show at the NFL Draft 
One NFC insider, meanwhile, studied Sanders intently and concluded he was not ‘a bad kid’ but that the quarterback had been ‘insulated’ by his father and a system where ‘everything’s been catered to him.’ For once, he will have to play for someone else.
‘It’s going to be a culture shock when he really learns how a locker room really operates,’ they told NFL Network. ‘When you walk in one of these (NFL) buildings, no one’s going to give a s*** about that. No one cares who your dad is.’
But no one saw this coming, either. The тιтans, who held the No 1 overall pick, only offered four players the chance to visit the franchise. Sanders was among them. The quarterback also met with the Giants, the Raiders, the Steelers and the Browns.
None invited him back until Saturday afternoon. By then, Sanders had been subject to a cruel prank call as he waited to hear from NFL executives.
‘If his last name wasn’t Sanders he’d be a day three pick,’ one fan said in February, following Shedeur’s comments at the Combine. Turns out they were only half right.
