Shedeur Sanders tumbled down the NFL Draft in dramatic fashion this week and the finger has now been pointed at Tom Brady.
Once pegged as a top-five pick in the 2025 draft, Sanders – the son of NFL Hall of Famer Deion Sanders – endured humiliation as he slid not only out of the first round, but also the second, third and fourth.
The Colorado quarterback’s suffering finally ended Saturday when the Cleveland Browns ultimately selected him with the 144th pick in the fifth round.
But the shocking slide had many fans and analysts accusing several teams of snubbing the 23-year-old, including Brady’s Las Vegas Raiders.
The NFL legend, who only became a minority owner in the Raiders last October, is now under-fire as he’s been accused by Skip Bayless of playing a role in Sanders’ draft demise.
‘It is now pretty clear Tom Brady – who mentored Shedeur – told the Raiders NOT to take Shedeur. Duly noted,’ the sports analyst claimed on X during the draft process.
Tom Brady (left) has been blamed for Shedeur Sanders’ (right) shocking NFL Draft slide
Skip Bayless has accused the legendary quarterback of snubbing the 23-year-old
The sports analyst took to social media to claim Brady made the Raiders snub Sanders
Brady has a personal connection to Sanders, having mentored the young signal caller and trained with him back in 2020.
He has also previously sung the quarterback’s praises when he opened up on their relationship back in 2023.
‘I see someone who has a great work ethic but wants the knowledge too,’ Brady said on a past episode of the Let’s Go! podcast.
‘People always ask me,’ he continued. ‘How good do you think this guy is going to be? And I always say, it depends on who he surrounds himself with. It depends who mentors him. Because even you, [Deion Sanders], weren’t a finished product at 21 or 22. I certainly wasn’t. I had the right people come into my life and I was open to learning from them.’
‘Naturally, he’s very proactive,’ Brady added. ‘We had a conversation, then phone calls, then then text messages, and then him making the commitment to say “all right, this is what I want to do, I’m very serious about it.” A lot of it is you want to see what their intention is too because when you see someone that’s really open to learning and has a thirst for knowledge, you want to be able to support that.’
However, when it came to drafting Sanders, the Raiders pᴀssed on him multiple times.
Las Vegas traded with the Seattle Seahawks for quarterback Geno Smith earlier in the offseason, temporarily satisfying their needs under center.
The Raiders used their first-round pick on running back Ashton Jeanty with the sixth overall.
Sanders’ father, Hall of Famer Deion Sanders, believes he warranted a top-five draft pick
The quarterback was finally taken by the Cleveland Browns with the 144th pick
Read More Dave Portnoy rips ‘insane’ Stephen A. Smith for saying racism is behind Shedeur Sanders NFL Draft snub
They went on to select wide receiver Jack Bech at 58th overall, Darien Porter at 68, Caleb Rodgers at 98, and Charles Grant at 99 n the second and third rounds as Sanders continued to tumble.
They did eventually bring in young backups for Smith in Tommy Mellott and Cam Millet with the 213th and 215th picks.
Meanwhile, Sanders was finally put out of his misery Saturday afternoon when the Browns selected the ex-Colorado star with the sixth pick of the fifth round.
Months ago, Sanders was believed to be a top-three pick because the teams with those first selections – the Tennessee тιтans, Browns, and New York Giants – were all in need of quarterbacks.
Yet, in the weeks leading up to the Draft, there was increasing speculation that Sanders could fall down the order after reportedly giving a bad impression in meetings with multiple NFL teams.
His character in particular had been targeted following the combine with anonymous team sources branding him ‘brash’ and ‘arrogant’ following interviews.