Spike Lee calls out NFL GMs over Shedeur Sanders after NFL Draft slide originally appeared on Athlon Sports.

It’s a commonly held belief that NFL fans and analysts should not overreact to one preseason game – good or bad – but that has rarely stopped anyone from doing exactly that.

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This week the majority of strong public reactions to the preseason surrounded Cleveland Browns rookie quarterback Shedeur Sanders, who surprisingly fell to the fifth round of the 2025 NFL draft despite being projected to go as early as No. 1 overall.

World famous movie director Spike Lee – a diehard sports fan who has never been one to mince words – shared his thoughts after Sanders completed 14 of 23 passes for 138 yards and a pair of touchdowns in his debut last Friday.

“Those GMs in the NFL looking real stupid,” Lee told Sports Illustrated in an interview. “Even the Cleveland Browns, they drafted him but he was buried deep on the depth chart. I think that at the end of the day when he’s retired there are going to be many people, especially fans, [thinking] why didn’t we draft him? That’s what they get.”

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Sanders suffered an oblique injury during individual drills earlier this week and is unlikely to play in Cleveland’s Week 2 preseason game as a precautionary measure, denying fans a chance to see if the Colorado product could once again turn heads in a game setting and gain ground on Joe Flacco and fellow rookie Dillon Gabriel in the quarterback battle.

Sanders, the son of Colorado coach and Hall of Fame defensive back Deion Sanders, won Big 12 Offensive Player of the Year in 2024 when he completed 353 passes for 4,134 yards and 37 touchdowns. He completed an NCAA-leading 74% of his passes and led the Buffs to a 13-4 record and an appearance in the Alamo Bowl, which they lost 36-14 to BYU.

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Sanders’ decision to not meet with several teams in the lead up to the NFL draft, which many interpreted as overconfidence he’d be going in the top five, and the publicity that follows him and his dad likely led to his significant fall on draft day as teams did not want to deal with the headache for a player who is competing for a backup role.

However, the strong debut for Sanders has some wondering if teams will end up regretting not taking a flyer on the dual-threat QB. It will take more than one solid preseason game to truly change the narrative, but for Sanders it’s a strong start.

This story was originally reported by Athlon Sports on Aug 15, 2025, where it first appeared.