{"id":1754,"date":"2025-04-26T16:05:08","date_gmt":"2025-04-26T16:05:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/1754\/"},"modified":"2025-04-26T16:05:08","modified_gmt":"2025-04-26T16:05:08","slug":"trying-to-explain-shedeur-sanders-shocking-slide-in-the-nfl-draft","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/1754\/","title":{"rendered":"Trying to explain Shedeur Sanders’ shocking slide in the NFL Draft"},"content":{"rendered":"

When the Cleveland Browns were on the clock at pick No. 94 overall in the third round of the NFL Draft on Friday night, it felt like the spot where former Colorado quarterback Shedeur Sanders<\/a> would finally come off the board.<\/p>\n

The Browns don\u2019t have a young quarterback on their roster and were one of the teams reportedly initially interested in Sanders during the draft evaluation process. The Browns traded back in the first round and had yet to take a quarterback, so why wouldn\u2019t Cleveland take a stab on Sanders in the third round? Big upside and lower stakes means great value.<\/p>\n

The Browns drafted a quarterback, but it wasn\u2019t Sanders. Instead, they selected Oregon<\/a> quarterback Dillon Gabriel<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Thats when the compelling story of Sanders\u2019 inexplicable slide in the NFL Draft turned into a complete television and internet meltdown. ESPN Draft analyst Mel Kiper Jr. has been pulling his hair out during the entire broadcast trying to explain why the quarterback he had No. 1 overall on his board hadn\u2019t been selected. Conspiracy theories, attacks on Sanders\u2019 temperament and every other explanation you could think of have been discussed publicly.<\/p>\n

Is this a coordinated attack from NFL franchises on the Sanders family? Is this a message that if you\u2019re quarterback who struck it big in the NIL era and wears flashy chains that you\u2019re not a trusted commodity? Was this because Deion Sanders<\/a> is the quarterback\u2019s dad? What is it?<\/p>\n

Well, it\u2019s none of that. <\/p>\n

It\u2019s because Sanders, apparently, was misevaluated by every expert when it came to his draft value. The NFL franchises have universally agreed that his play isn\u2019t worthy of being selected in the top three rounds of the NFL Draft. There is nothing bigger happening behind the scenes.<\/p>\n

How could you know that? It\u2019s simple. \u201cCharacter issues\u201d \u2014 or at least ones that don\u2019t involve nefarious behavior \u2014 don\u2019t tank first-round talents all the way down to the fourth round and beyond. That just doesn\u2019t happen in a world where NFL general managers are only concerned with one thing \u2014 building a winner and keeping their jobs.<\/p>\n

The Cleveland Browns \u2014 the team to pass on Sanders late in the third round \u2014 are a few years removed from giving $300 million dollars of guaranteed money to Deshaun Watson<\/a>, a quarterback who had more than two dozen sexual assault cases pending against him. <\/p>\n

Saying Sanders has \u201ccharacter issues\u201d in comparison to what Watson has been accused of is complete lunacy and frankly disrespectful. Say what you want about Sanders, but he doesn\u2019t get into trouble, has never broken the law and isn\u2019t a terrible human being. Many people who fit that description still play in the NFL every Sunday. The moral of the story? If you can play \u2014 and play at a high level \u2014 the NFL is willing to look past \u201ccharacter issues.\u201d<\/p>\n

And what character issues does Sanders have? Is he a jerk? Is he arrogant? Is he the spoiled child of an NFL Hall of Famer who flashes an iced out Audemars Piguet Royal Oak during celebrations? You can be the judge of that. <\/p>\n

Did he interview poorly? Maybe. None of us were in those rooms at The Combine. <\/p>\n

But in life, not everything is some big conspiracy theory. The most likely reason for something is usually the explanation for why it occurred. Occam\u2019s Razor. The answer here is simple: his tape just wasn\u2019t good enough to justify being selected in the top three rounds, even if you were told repeatedly during the NFL Draft process that he could be a top-five overall pick.<\/p>\n

You can certainly call into question Cleveland\u2019s decision to draft Gabriel in that spot instead. The Browns took a really good college player that very few people believe has a real shot at being a long-term NFL starter. That makes what\u2019s happening to Sanders feel suspicious, especially because Sanders (I believe) would have been a much better use of that pick. But the Browns are one of the most dysfunctional franchises in professional sports and that was honestly probably just a terrible pick. <\/p>\n

People viewed Sanders\u2019 spot in the sport as a form of nepotism. We accused Deion Sanders of \u201cDaddy Ball\u201d and never thought Sanders\u2019 game would translate to a power conference after he followed his dad from Jackson State to Colorado<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Sanders, though, became the Big 12 Offensive Player of the Year and threw for more than 4,100 yards, 37 touchdowns and completed more than 74 percent of his passes in 2024. He won the Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award and led a team that won four games in 2023 to the edge of the College Football Playoff discussion in November. <\/p>\n

But being a good, productive college quarterback isn\u2019t what gets you drafted. Texas quarterback Quinn Ewers<\/a> and Ohio State quarterback Will Howard<\/a> were tremendous college quarterbacks who are still on the board, too.<\/p>\n

We got fooled by bad analysis. We got fooled by NFL Draft analysts and even sportsbooks that Sanders would be a top-10 pick, so we\u2019re trying to rationalize it with some overarching theme, conspiracy or commentary on Sanders\u2019 personality and connection to Deion.<\/p>\n

No, the reality is that NFL executives aren\u2019t in love with his tape. And guess what, they may be completely wrong, just like they were with Brock Purdy<\/a> and so many other quarterbacks who came before him.<\/p>\n

Yes, Sanders may be brash. Yes, maybe the NFL Draft party room was a little over the top. Yes, flashing a watch worth more than most people\u2019s annual salaries isn\u2019t humble behavior. And yes, maybe everything that comes with the Sanders package is making teams wearing of drafting him. <\/p>\n

Some people love him, some people despise him. Your opinion of him is your opinion. But remember, your opinion isn\u2019t why he has yet to be selected.<\/p>\n

If NFL teams viewed him as a franchise quarterback in the NFL, he\u2019d already be selected. Why hasn\u2019t he?<\/p>\n

His tape. That\u2019s it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When the Cleveland Browns were on the clock at pick No. 94 overall in the third round of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1755,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[7,6,8],"class_list":{"0":"post-1754","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nfl","8":"tag-football","9":"tag-nfl","10":"tag-shedeur-sanders-21-trinity-leadership"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/114405122084582706","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1754","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1754"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1754\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1755"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1754"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1754"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1754"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}