Shedeur Sanders has obviously been a subject of discussion all offseason for the NFL because he's one of the most polarizing young prospects in the game. Sanders was outstanding as the starting quarterback at Colorado, and even though most people felt like he was a sure-fire first-round NFL Draft pick, the league decided to make an example out of him instead.
There are a variety of rumors why Sanders went from being perceived as a pretty unanimous first-round player to being a fifth-round afterthought, but we'll likely never know the actual reason(s) why he fell so far in the draft.
It was a significant story during the draft because Sanders was far better than a fifth-round player at Colorado, and certainly better than the second quarterback drafted by the hapless Cleveland Browns in the same class. And Sanders quickly has folks regretting their decision to pass on him.
Shedeur Sanders crushed his preseason debut for the Browns
SHEDEUR SANDERS PUT ON A SHOW IN HIS PRESEASON DEBUT ⌚️ pic.twitter.com/yEhAL5YUxy
— ESPN (@espn) August 9, 2025
Maybe as important as anything else, the NFL's decision to pass on -- and embarrass -- Shedeur Sanders during the NFL Draft really got a lot of eyes on an otherwise very uninteresting preseason game. The Browns and Panthers were two of the worst teams in the NFL last season, and neither of them is expected to be great this coming season.
There were a lot of eyes on that Friday night preseason game for one reason: Shedeur Sanders.
Sanders did not disappoint, throwing a pair of touchdown passes among his 14 completions on just 23 attempts. It wasn't a flawless debut for Sanders, who nearly got his receiver's head taken off on one throw and then nearly threw an interception shortly after that, but those types of growing pains are to be expected. No quarterback is immune from rough throws every so often.
The bottom line with the Shedeur Sanders situation is simply that the NFL got this wrong. Whatever reasons he fell to Day 3 of the draft, and then to the fifth round on top of that, they were not valid. As a prospect, there was not a single reputable media outlet or talent evaluator out there who had Sanders as a Day 3 guy, even if they didn't like him.
Calling Sanders a second-round player a month before the draft would have been viewed as a hot take. There are so many teams out there that need a quarterback like Shedeur. There are so many teams out there that need a young quarterback to potentially build around, and of all teams, the Browns stumbled into a decent situation here.
Sanders went from barely taking any 1st-team reps (if any) during training camp practices to starting the preseason opener for the Browns and potentially giving us the latest Dak Prescott-like situation, where a team simply can't deny the talent of a young QB, even if he was picked on Day 3.