Shedeur Sanders had a strong final season for the Colorado Buffaloes, throwing for 4,134 yards, 37 touchdowns, and 10 interceptions, while completing an NCAA-leading 74.0% of his passes and adding four rushing touchdowns. He entered the pre-draft process as a projected top-five pick, with some outlets predicting him to be the first player off the board.
The son of Pro and College Football Hall of Famer Deion Sanders wound up having one of the most unexpected slides in recent memory as he remained on the board until Day 3, when the Cleveland Browns selected him in the fifth round. An NFL insider recently discussed the red flags that led to his stunning freefall.
NFL Insider Reveals Why Shedeur Sanders May Have Dropped
Sanders shockingly dropped to the fifth round of the 2025 NFL Draft, leading many fans and draft analysts to be surprised. Daniel Jeremiah of NFL Network shared some insight into why the 2024 Big 12 Offensive Player of the Year may have fallen.
“This was the negative side of it. It was the drifting out of pockets. It was taking bad sacks at inopportune times,” Jeremiah said. “The thing to me was just playing faster. He just got to speed up his clock and play faster, but when he’s got everything lined up and he gets his feet in the ground, he is a very accurate thrower.”
Sanders should enter the league with a major chip on his shoulder after suffering one of the most unprecedented draft day slides in recent history. While he had to wait until Day 3 to hear his name called, he is not the typical fifth-round pick and could have an opportunity to compete for a starting job in a Cleveland Browns quarterback room that has no clear starter.
The Browns will likely be without Deshaun Watson for the entire 2025 season after he re-ruptured his torn Achilles. The three-time Pro Bowler initially suffered the injury during the Browns’ Week 7 game against the Cincinnati Bengals on Oct. 20, 2024. He missed the final ten games of the season.
READ MORE: Breaking Down the Cleveland Browns’ NFL Draft Grades
Sanders’ competition for the starting job will be free agent signings Joe Flacco, who was the 23rd-ranked quarterback in PFSN’s QB+ metric, and Kenny Pickett, along with third-round pick Dillon Gabriel.
While Sanders did not come off the board until the fifth round of the 2025 NFL Draft, he can prove the league’s front offices wrong by winning the starting job and showing that his skills translate to the NFL.