The Shedeur Sanders Slide and Other NFL Draft Gut Reactions

The 2025 NFL Draft's biggest headline might have been the slide of a top QB prospect.

Photo by Roger Starnes Sr on Unsplash

When I did my mock draft in which I drafted for the biggest need for each team, Shedeur Sanders wound up going to the Pittsburgh Steelers at No. 21. I remarked that I didn't expect Sanders to fall out of the top 10.

That take about Sanders not falling out of the top 10 didn't age well. But not only did he fall out of the top 10 — he fell out of the first four rounds.

Some of the reasoning behind his fall goes back to his father. Deion Sanders, the current head football coach at the University of Colorado, has done good things as a head coach but he's quite opinionated — perhaps to a fault. There have been times when Sanders has fired back at scouts and coaches who have critiqued his son and it's possible teams didn't want to deal with that.

There are issues with Shedeur's play, though, but that's no different from other quarterback prospects. However, the flaws cited include his tendency to hold the ball too long and take too many sacks, plus his lack of mobility to allow him to extend plays.

Still, you would have thought somebody would take a chance on him once he fell into the third round. The Cleveland Browns, who ultimately traded up in the fifth round to select Shedeur, passed on him in the third to take Dillon Gabriel.

It's not unusual to see teams take two QBs in the same draft. Most of the time, though, it's a team who selected a quarterback in the first round, who then takes a QB during the later rounds. While one could argue that allows a team a fallback option in case the first-round pick doesn't work out, a better argument might be that it allows a team to get a backup without having to pay a significant salary for a veteran backup.

What makes this one unusual was that the Browns traded up to get Shedeur Sanders after passing on him initially for a QB who may not have the famous father responding to every criticism from NFL coaches and scouts but is arguably more flawed than Shedeur.

Regardless, Shedeur Sanders will get the chance to prove he can succeed in the NFL and show teams they were wrong to pass on him. Time will tell if that happens.

Here are some other observations I have about the 2025 NFL Draft. I plan to examine each team's draft class next week to see what each team's thought process was when it came to the draft.

* I will give the Browns credit for how they have set themselves up in the 2026 NFL Draft. They acquired a 2026 first-round pick in a draft day trade with the Jacksonville Jaguars, which sets themselves up well for next year if things don't work out with the quarterbacks they currently have.

Next year's draft class is said to be better as far as quarterback prospects go. If one believes the Browns finish in the top five in the 2026 draft, they have that extra first-round pick to use in a move up the board if necessary. If they do finish with the No. 1 overall pick, that extra first could mean another immediate contributor in 2026.

* As for the Jaguars, I get that they loved Travis Hunter. Giving up a future first was a steep price to pay to move up three spots when the player isn't a quarterback. And unlike the Texans, the Jaguars didn't have an extra first in 2026.

But I will note that the Jaguars have some talented players on their roster. What the Jaguars have been lacking is direction. Perhaps the new coaching staff and front office can get the Jaguars back to respectability. But to get their guy, the Jaguars took a big swing when some might argue they have plenty of holes to fill.

To their credit, the Jaguars did acquire additional draft capital for 2026 in trades down the board. They got two third-round picks in 2026 from the Lions, so that helps offset the loss of a premium pick.

* The Giants coaching staff and front office are said to be on notice in 2025, so it's understandable that they would take some chances in this year's draft. They did so by moving back into the first round to select quarterback Jaxson Dart.

Give the Giants credit for this: They didn't have to send their 2026 first to move up. They did send a 2026 third, but that won't set them back too much if the current regime gets the team back on track. The only concern here is that Dart is more about scheme fit, meaning if the current regime is gone after 2025, the Giants are likely back in the QB hunt in 2026.

* The Falcons were aggressive in a move back into the first round — and they probably had to be in order to make that particular move, jumping nearly 20 spots. And I get that the Falcons need to improve their defense.

The question I have is whether giving up that 2026 first-round pick was a good idea. To be sure, the Falcons regime is not said to have jobs on the line going into the 2025 season. But that future first could have come in handy to find a final piece of the puzzle.

* Meanwhile, the Los Angeles Rams went another year without a first-round pick, but in doing so, they set themselves up well for the future.

With two first-round picks in 2026, the Rams are positioned well to get themselves a quarterback in the draft next year. Matthew Stafford enters the final year of his contract next season and will be 38, so they need to think about finding his replacement.

If you want to cue the "f those picks" jokes because you think the Rams will trade those first rounders for a veteran, go ahead. Either way, the Rams have the draft capital to find a QB who can keep them in the playoff hunt.

* Speaking of teams in the playoff hunt, we once again see the teams that have been playoff contenders year in and year out do a good job of drafting. Often, they are the types who let the board fall to them, rather than forcing the situation.

The Baltimore Ravens are a prime example of this, but the same can be said for the Philadelphia Eagles, the Kansas City Chiefs and the Buffalo Bills. They are shrewd when it comes to draft-day trades, tend to focus more on positional value and are willing to take chances on players who slide down the board because of injury concerns.

Sure, getting a quarterback and finding the right head coach are important factors to ensuring a team is a playoff contender. But it matters how you build the team around the QB, too, and that comes through drafting well.