Trying to explain Shedeur Sanders' shocking slide in the NFL Draft

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 would finally come off the board.

The Browns don’t 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’t Cleveland take a stab on Sanders in the third round? Big upside and lower stakes means great value.

The Browns drafted a quarterback, but it wasn’t Sanders. Instead, they selected Oregon quarterback Dillon Gabriel.

Thats when the compelling story of Sanders’ 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’t been selected. Conspiracy theories, attacks on Sanders’ temperament and every other explanation you could think of have been discussed publicly.

Is this a coordinated attack from NFL franchises on the Sanders family? Is this a message that if you’re quarterback who struck it big in the NIL era and wears flashy chains that you’re not a trusted commodity? Was this because Deion Sanders is the quarterback’s dad? What is it?

Well, it’s none of that.

It’s 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’t worthy of being selected in the top three rounds of the NFL Draft. There is nothing bigger happening behind the scenes.

How could you know that? It’s simple. “Character issues” — or at least ones that don’t involve nefarious behavior — don’t tank first-round talents all the way down to the fourth round and beyond. That just doesn’t happen in a world where NFL general managers are only concerned with one thing — building a winner and keeping their jobs.

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

Saying Sanders has “character issues” in comparison to what Watson has been accused of is complete lunacy and frankly disrespectful. Say what you want about Sanders, but he doesn’t get into trouble, has never broken the law and isn’t 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 — and play at a high level — the NFL is willing to look past “character issues.”

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.

Did he interview poorly? Maybe. None of us were in those rooms at The Combine.

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’s Razor. The answer here is simple: his tape just wasn’t 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.

You can certainly call into question Cleveland’s 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’s 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.

People viewed Sanders’ spot in the sport as a form of nepotism. We accused Deion Sanders of “Daddy Ball” and never thought Sanders’ game would translate to a power conference after he followed his dad from Jackson State to Colorado.

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.

But being a good, productive college quarterback isn’t what gets you drafted. Texas quarterback Quinn Ewers and Ohio State quarterback Will Howard were tremendous college quarterbacks who are still on the board, too.

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’re trying to rationalize it with some overarching theme, conspiracy or commentary on Sanders’ personality and connection to Deion.

No, the reality is that NFL executives aren’t in love with his tape. And guess what, they may be completely wrong, just like they were with Brock Purdy and so many other quarterbacks who came before him.

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’s annual salaries isn’t humble behavior. And yes, maybe everything that comes with the Sanders package is making teams wearing of drafting him.

Some people love him, some people despise him. Your opinion of him is your opinion. But remember, your opinion isn’t why he has yet to be selected.

If NFL teams viewed him as a franchise quarterback in the NFL, he’d already be selected. Why hasn’t he?

His tape. That’s it.