The first round of the 2025 NFL Draft came and went… and Shedeur Sanders’ name was never called.
The talented, dual threat quarterback out of Colorado was considered to be one of the best quarterbacks available in this year’s draft. Despite only leading the Buffaloes to a 13-11 in his two seasons at the helm, many saw his skillset and potential to be very alluring for NFL teams in need of a quarterback.
Thought apparently not all that alluring… considering a number of teams (Las Vegas Raiders, New York Giants, Pittsburgh Steelers) in need of a QB either chose someone else or passed on Sanders altogether.
Why did Sanders fall out of the first round after many saw him as a lock to go early in the draft? Well, part of it probably had to do with the news that came out about his formal interviews ahead of the NFL Draft. According to one assistant coach, Sanders had what he calls “the worst formal interview” he’d ever seen in his life, and gave some other critical thoughts:
“He’s so entitled. He takes unnecessary sacks. He never plays on time. He has horrible body language. He blames teammates. … But the biggest thing is, he’s not that good.”
Another anonymous exec from an AFC team also had some scathing criticism of the QB and his attitude:
“It didn’t go great in our interview. He wants to dictate what he’s going to do and what’s best for him. He makes you feel small.”
That news came out days before the first round of the NFL Draft, which signaled to many football experts and fans that Shedeur Sanders likely wouldn’t go during the first day of the draft. But apparently ESPN – and specifically draft expert Mel Kiper Jr. – didn’t get that memo. The entire night, and I promise I’m not exaggerating, ESPN’s draft coverage focused on Sanders. Even when others were chosen, Kiper would gasbag about why they should have gone with Shedeur Sanders instead.
At one point, it really just seemed like Mel Kiper was pushing Shedeur to get drafted just so that he wasn’t embarrassingly wrong with his draft predictions and mock drafts. And I’m not the only one who noticed the inordinate amount of coverage that Mel Kiper Jr. gave to the Colorado QB. There’s even a 9-minute long highlight reel (or non-highlight reel I guess) that was put together showing how much Kiper Jr. focused on Sanders:
Yeah… can you really be called a draft expert if your number one QB available doesn’t get drafted in the first round?
It was honestly an embarrassing showing for both Kiper Jr. and ESPN as a whole. It got so bad that many online say they switched over to other networks that were covering the draft, just so they could escape the Shedeur-Sanders-heavy coverage that the “Worldwide Leader in Sports” presented.
Some are saying Shedeur’s father, Deion Sanders, must have been in Mel Kiper’s pocket, while others suggested that the “draft expert” should lose his position with ESPN for how he acted for the entirety of the first round:
He’s got to be getting paid by Deion to do this.. I mean that’s all he talked about all night
— GOAT Capital Sports (@GOATcapital_) April 25, 2025
his identity is wrapped up in choosing “his guy” that’s all he is
— crispy (bless all the knees and keep them healthy) (@crispy_xiii) April 25, 2025
For someone who’s done it as long as Mel has it’s honestly ridiculous behavior.
— Noah Nichols (@_NoahNichols) April 25, 2025
It’s almost as if all the executives were like “Talk about Sanders a lot it will keep people interested” meanwhile it made them look like idiots. All this talent getting drafted and Mel wouldn’t shut up about Sanders. Asinine.
— Bradley Bertoniere (@BBertoniere) April 25, 2025
Agree, found Mel’s obsession with Sanders – including opening the show with a segment on it – to be distracting and took away from other players selected. What the hell
— Brian (@boilerroom481) April 25, 2025
He talked about Shedeur the entire time when Jaxson Dart got picked.
— The Patriots Podcast (@ThePatsPod) April 25, 2025
