Shedeur Sanders looked like a shoo-in to go in the top five of the 2025 NFL draft following a record-breaking career at the University of Colorado Boulder. Instead, he fell to the fifth round of the 2025 NFL draft in a historic shocker, and reports quickly followed that he was difficult to deal with in pre-draft meetings.
As the “Grown QB” explained to former Cleveland Browns quarterback Bernie Kosar, Shedeur doesn’t act differently for anyone.
Sanders is unapologetically himself all the time.
“At this point in life, I don’t think I would fake anything because there’s no need. Everything is just genuinely how I am,” Sanders said to Kosar when asked about why he shows up early and stays late at practice.
Certainly, no one thought Shedeur was playing an act when he got frustrated with New York Giants head coach Brian Daboll for intentionally putting mistakes in the playbook install to test him. He was being himself when he allegedly had headphones in while talking to team personnel during meetings.
No wonder the Giants, New Orleans Saints, and Pittsburgh Steelers passed on him despite having uncertainties at the QB position.
New York chose to roll the dice with Russell Wilson and Jameis Winston in free agency and drafted Ole Miss Rebels star Jaxson Dart instead. New Orleans made one of the 2025 draft’s most puzzling selections, taking Tyler Shough in the second round, feeling Sanders was the bigger gamble despite Shough bouncing around three different Power 4 programs in seven collegiate seasons. Pittsburgh decided to play it safe by taking Ohio State Buckeyes CFP title-winning signal-caller Will Howard in the sixth round as they waited on a free agent decision from Aaron Rodgers.
Sanders’ attitude, not anything Coach Prime did, led to his stock tanking.
Luckily, it appears to be the one thing that could save him, as he’s been impressive against the first-team defense this past week in Browns training camp and looks primed to prove his skills can do the talking.