{"id":44097,"date":"2025-05-12T12:11:13","date_gmt":"2025-05-12T12:11:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/44097\/"},"modified":"2025-05-12T12:11:13","modified_gmt":"2025-05-12T12:11:13","slug":"shedeur-sanders-nfl-draft-slide-explained-by-mock-draft-experts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/44097\/","title":{"rendered":"Shedeur Sanders’ NFL draft slide explained by mock draft experts"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"play\"<\/p>\n

Former QB Alex Smith shares advice for Shedeur Sanders<\/p>\n

Former NFL quarterback Alex Smith shares advice for Shedeur Sanders after his shocking fall in the draft.<\/p>\n

Sports Seriously<\/p>\n

No one could have predicted Shedeur Sanders lasting until in the fifth round of the NFL draft<\/a>. Not even the media\u2019s draft experts who are devoted to the year-round process that defines a considerable portion of the league\u2019s offseason schedule.\u00a0<\/p>\n

So how did the disconnect form between reality \u2013 Sanders was taken as the sixth quarterback of the class at No. 144 overall \u2013 and the forecast that he was a first- or second-round pick?\u00a0<\/p>\n

A combination of unique circumstances, starting with who Sanders is \u2013 the son of a Hall of Fame player who was his college coach \u2013 ultimately \u201cclouded the projection,\u201d NFL draft analyst for The Athletic Dane Brugler said, for \u201cthose of us on the outside\u201d of the NFL and those employed by a team.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cTeams thought he could have gone in the top 40 and that would have not been surprising at all,\u201d Brugler told USA TODAY Sports.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Instead, the opposite occurred, leading to the same reaction: surprise.<\/p>\n

\u201cAround the league, people were shocked,\u201d ESPN draft analyst Matt Miller said. \u201cNo one that I talked to expected it.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cNo one foresaw or had a premonition of fifth round, but most people in the league thought it was very likely he wouldn\u2019t be a first-round pick,\u201d The Ringer draft expert Todd McShay said. \u201cA lot of people in the league had second-round grades on him. Some people in the league I talked to had mid-late first-round grades on him. Typically, the demand is a lot higher than the supply, and it was again this year.\u201d<\/p>\n

Miller has one theory behind the disconnect. Top-tier decision-makers, such as a general manager, head coach or owner had a different perspective than an area scout or college scouting director.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think that\u2019s where the difference in opinions really came from, was from those top-end decision-makers,\u201d Miller said.<\/p>\n

Many teams assumed others had first-round grades on Sanders.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just think every team thought someone else would do it,\u201d\u00a0Miller said.<\/p>\n

But grades, Miller added, are based only upon what an analyst knows.<\/p>\n

How did the NFL react to Shedeur Sanders\u2019 fall?\u00a0<\/p>\n

Going back to December, Brugler had a feeling Sanders would be a top-40 to top-50 pick \u2013 not top five, like many in the online and social media discourse continued spouting.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI fought this battle all fall, because a lot of people were saying, \u2018Oh he\u2019s top five.\u2019 And I was kind of saying, \u2018The vibe I get from teams is late one, early two, top-40-type pick,'” Brugler said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Quarterback desperation is real, however. The New York Giants<\/a> could have taken a quarterback at No. 3 overall and nobody in the league would have batted an eye. But then the question became, if Sanders doesn\u2019t go three or 21 to the Pittsburgh Steelers<\/a>, is he going to fall out of the first round? In the days before the first round, that answer clearly became \u201cyes.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

EXCLUSIVE: Why did Shedeur Sanders slide in draft? NFL team execs give blunt views<\/a><\/p>\n

Still, Miller had Sanders pegged to the Steelers in his final mock draft but didn\u2019t feel good about it; he couldn\u2019t find one team that had a first-round grade on Sanders.\u00a0<\/p>\n

As the draft played out and the Browns<\/a> took Dillon Gabriel<\/a> with the 94th overall pick in Round 3, both the media and those in the league played the same game of connect the dots, Brugler said. The Steelers were still the most logical fit.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThere was a lot of intrigue both from a fan interest and from a 32-team interest of \u2018Where\u2019s he going to fall?\u2019\u201d Brugler said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

A shrinking pool and imperfect interviews\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Unknowingly, Sanders fell into a shrinking pool of teams that it made sense for him to fall to, McShay said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

For one, not every team needs a quarterback. That at least halves the number of potential landing spots from the grand total of 32. Not every one of the remaining teams used the draft to address the quarterback position, shrinking the pool again. Then, the teams picking quarterbacks rated other quarterbacks higher. The number of teams available to Sanders, McShay said, went from \u201csix to four to two to one.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cHe shrunk the pool down to Cleveland, and he didn\u2019t even know it at the time.\u201d McShay said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

And once there is a limited pool, Brugler said, different teams don\u2019t jump in the water because they haven\u2019t done the due diligence on a prospect such as Sanders, because he\u2019s a quarterback. For example, the Philadelphia Eagles<\/a> aren\u2019t doing a lengthy combine interview or private workout with Sanders.\u00a0<\/p>\n

That\u2019s why many in the league thought he\u2019d end up with the Steelers, Brugler said, as his meeting with head coach Mike Tomlin had gone well, per multiple reports.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cOnce you got to day three, it was anybody\u2019s guess,\u201d Brugler said.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

McShay tried sounding the alarm after he heard from multiple people at the scouting combine in Indianapolis in late February that Sanders had subpar interviews with teams.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was conveyed to me, essentially, that they got the sense that Shedeur did not care an awful lot about what that organization thought of him,\u201d McShay said. \u201cNothing was disrespectful. There wasn\u2019t foul language. Nothing got confrontational. Just didn\u2019t take it seriously.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

That\u2019s a departure from the way a typical prospect might comport himself during interviews with teams. But Sanders was not a typical prospect.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIt really stands out,\u201d McShay said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

McShay understands his place in the draft media ecosystem and knows he isn\u2019t the \u201cbreaking news guy,\u201d he said. He figured that if he\u2019d heard about Sanders\u2019 interviews twice, from two teams in the top 10 in need of quarterbacks (at that point in the offseason there were six), a network insider would go report it.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIt didn\u2019t play to my sensibilities that anyone in any job interview situation wouldn\u2019t put their best foot forward,\u201d McShay said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

All he heard instead were largely glowing reviews, \u201call positive things,\u201d McShay said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe important stuff behind the scenes was not accurately being reflected,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

McShay said he tried to work with his executive producer, Conor Nevins, about how to report it in his post-combine shows. He recognized the nugget would come with backlash.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cAt the end of the day, I was trying to warn everyone for months, dating back to the first week in March, so for two months,” McShay said. “I still wouldn\u2019t believe that he would fall to the fifth round, I don\u2019t think anyone saw that coming.\u201d<\/p>\n

Spring matters \u2013 advice from agents might matter more<\/p>\n

If anything, Miller said he hopes everything about the chasm between Sanders\u2019 pre-draft coverage and the quarterback\u2019s fall can inform fans of the process.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cFans expect us to have all the information when the season ends in December,\u201d Miller said. \u201cSo much happens throughout the process. Teams aren\u2019t even making decisions sometimes until the week of the draft.\u201d<\/p>\n

Miller pitched fans on letting the offseason calendar play out because tentpole events like the combine matter and influence what happens on draft weekend.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Miller, McShay, Brugler and other marquee draft analysts such as ESPN\u2019s Mel Kiper Jr. and NFL Network\u2019s Daniel Jeremiah, are only one person \u2013 \u201ca one-man scouting department,\u201d as Miller put it.<\/p>\n

\u201cOpposed to NFL teams who have tons and tons of people to do that, to gather information and further break things down with the access to the player and medicals and things like that,\u201d Miller said.<\/p>\n

The antennas for Miller first went up when Sanders didn\u2019t perform in workouts at the East-West Shrine Bowl in January, although he lacked an injury-related excuse.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI think that\u2019s when teams started getting a little bit (annoyed),\u201d Miller said, \u201cit was like \u2018OK, you\u2019re circumnavigating the rules and the process that we\u2019ve set up.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

During the combine, Miller said he caught heat after appearing on \u201cNFL Live\u201d and saying Sanders should be throwing in front of scouts and executives. Teams respect the process and want the same from the prospects.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI think where the Sanders family made a mistake was in assuming Shedeur would also be a top three pick,\u201d Miller said. \u201cShedeur needed to prove himself and instead he sat out the process.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

To Brugler, only one quarterback actually had leverage in this year\u2019s class: Cam Ward, the first overall pick to the Tennessee Titans<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a job interview,\u201d Brugler said of Sanders\u2019 pre-draft interviews. \u201cIt\u2019s not a recruiting trip. It\u2019s a job interview. And it didn\u2019t sound like he treated it as such.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

After Gabriel was drafted before Sanders, Brugler wrote on social media about the importance of spring for quarterbacks in the draft.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat you do on tape, it matters, but above all, it\u2019s an intangible position,\u201d Brugler said. \u201cIf you don\u2019t win over teams during the interview process, it\u2019s going to be a long haul for you. Part of this, I don\u2019t even blame Shedeur, I just don\u2019t think he had good advice.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Not having an agent didn\u2019t help Sanders either, both Miller and Brugler said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t want to sound like we\u2019re just banging on Shedeur. Because I think a big part of it was not having the right advice around him,\u201d Brugler said. \u201cAgents don\u2019t get enough credit for how they\u2019re able to \u2013 it\u2019s not just the training for the combine and stuff, it\u2019s the media training, it\u2019s the team interview training, it\u2019s guiding and putting them on the right path.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIt just didn\u2019t seem like he had the right people around him to do that. So I don\u2019t want to put it all on Shedeur as if it\u2019s a hundred percent his fault he fell as far as he did.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

All the NFL news on and off the field.\u00a0Sign up for USA TODAY’s 4th and Monday newsletter<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Former QB Alex Smith shares advice for Shedeur Sanders Former NFL quarterback Alex Smith shares advice for Shedeur…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":44098,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[2081],"tags":[247,265,90,86,85,54,25,7,519,248,267,330,206,56,88,6,245,338,242,109,520,57,140,238,237,261,2635,139,17,9,266,426,526,394,527,225],"class_list":{"0":"post-44097","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-seattle-seahawks","8":"tag-american","9":"tag-american-football","10":"tag-analysis","11":"tag-browns","12":"tag-cleveland","13":"tag-cleveland-browns","14":"tag-eagles","15":"tag-football","16":"tag-giants","17":"tag-national","18":"tag-national-sports","19":"tag-negative","20":"tag-new","21":"tag-new-york-giants","22":"tag-news","23":"tag-nfl","24":"tag-overall","25":"tag-overall-negative","26":"tag-philadelphia","27":"tag-philadelphia-eagles","28":"tag-pittsburgh","29":"tag-pittsburgh-steelers","30":"tag-sanders","31":"tag-seahawks","32":"tag-seattle","33":"tag-seattle-seahawks","34":"tag-seattleseahawks","35":"tag-shedeur","36":"tag-shedeur-sanders","37":"tag-sports","38":"tag-sports-news","39":"tag-steelers","40":"tag-tennessee","41":"tag-tennessee-titans","42":"tag-titans","43":"tag-york"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":"Validation failed: Text character limit of 500 exceeded"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44097","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=44097"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44097\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/44098"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=44097"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=44097"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=44097"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}