Travis Kriens – KORN News Radio Sports Director
Shedeur Sanders doesn’t beat his girlfriend, doesn’t do drugs and isn’t an alcoholic. He made the mistake of being too arrogant in the pre-draft process.
Sanders was selected in the fifth round on Saturday in the 2025 NFL Draft, 144th overall by the Cleveland Browns, after being projected to be a first round or early second round pick at worst.
It’s one of the biggest draft slides of all-time. Going back to 2016, and based on the final Consensus Big Board at the NFL Mock Draft Database, Sanders went 132 spots later than expected after being projected around the 12th pick in the first round. Based on those metrics, the second biggest slide in that time was QB Malik Willis, who went 76 spots later than projected in 2022.
After quarterbacks went with the first three picks in the 2024 draft and six of the first 12, not as many teams were quarterback needy this offseason. Plus, this year’s class was not as highly regarded as 2024.
One longtime anonymous NFL assistant coach said his time with Sanders was “the worst formal interview I’ve ever been in in my life. 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.”
Sanders was one of the best quarterbacks in the country last season finishing in the top five in numerous categories; 74 percent completion percentage (1st), 37 passing touchdowns (2nd), 4,134 passing yards (4th) and a 168.2 passer rating (5th).
Whatever happened in the interview process before the draft was enough to make a first round talent a fifth round pick.
However, it’s not like NFL teams have any idea what they are doing when it comes to drafting QB’s.
In the past few years, decision makers thought that Anthony Richardson, Zach Wilson, Trey Lance, Daniel Jones and Mitchell Trubisky were talented enough to be franchise quarterbacks. Most of them were top five picks overall. Not only did they not turn their franchises around, they were among the worst quarterbacks in the NFL.
Imagine spending millions of dollars in scouting and thousands of man hours just to pick a QB in the top five that would have been considered a bust if he was drafted in the seventh round.
I’m not sure the most diehard of fans would do any worse than most teams do.
Teams are also afraid of Daddy Deion sending out a tweet or making news by chastising their organization for the likely mismanagement of his son Shedeur.
That only leads me to believe that these teams are so fragile and weak that they think that a rookie QB and his Hall of Fame dad could bring down the entire operation.
Unlike most, I don’t think that Deion is going to talk much about his son at all during his rookie season. Neither want the received distraction.
Observers that are not fans of the Sanders family is because they tell you how good they are and then prove it. Colorado won as many games this past season (9), then they did from 2022-22 (9), before Deion arrived. The duo went 23-2 in their last two seasons at Jackson State, which is as many wins as the program had from 2014-19. It’s hard to argue with the results on the field.
Teams like the Raiders, Browns, Jets or Jaguars could have done a lot worse than turning things over to Deion to see if his magic works in the NFL. The perennial bottom feeders of the league stay where they are at because of repeated poor decisions, from front office, to head coaches, to the draft.
The most bothersome thing to me is that every team is willing to let off the field issues slide if you are talented enough, but if you disrespect the draft process and are not humble enough, then that’s the ultimate sin.
Marshall edge rusher Mike Green fell out of the first round before being selected by Baltimore with the 59th overall pick because of accused of sexual assault on two different occasions. The Ravens have also not made a decision on the future of kicker Justin Tucker, who was accused of inappropriate behavior by 16 massage therapists in a story this past February.
Dolphins WR Tyreek Hill was recently involved in a domestic incident with his wife. Nothing will happen. Miami won’t do anything. Hill was accused of domestic violence during his college days, including allegations of child abuse with the Chiefs and has made headlines with numerous off-field altercations during his time with the Dolphins. Hill is a really good WR, thus getting a pass as a serial abuser of woman. At least he or Tucker never made a joke out of the draft process.
It’s all about where your morals stand. I would have released former Vikings RB Adrian Peterson as soon as child abuse allegations were raised and then proven a decade ago. Instead, Minnesota suspended Peterson for one game and brought him back before finally suspended him for the rest of the season after immediate backlash.
Even a perceived model franchise in the Pittsburgh Steelers are not immune. They had no problem welcoming back QB Ben Roethlisberger after a woman accused him of raping her at a Lake Tahoe hotel-casino in 2008.
In 2010, just one year after his first allegation, Roethlisberger again faced another accusation of rape. This time, it was a 20-year-old student who claimed that he raped her in a nightclub bathroom stall. The case was eventually dropped due to a lack of evidence.
The NFL suspended Roethlisberger for four games and that was it. What a great face of the franchise.
The league has proven over and over again that off the field issues, no matter how serious, will be ignored in favor of talent and winning. If only they had the morals to hold those players feet to the fire and make an example out of them like they just did with Sanders.
It will likely take Shedeur playing somewhere other than Cleveland to reach his potential based on the past 25 years of Browns quarterbacks.
Time will now tell who was right and who was wrong.