GREEN BAY – (Staff and Wire Service Report) – After two days, three rounds and 102 selections in the 2025 NFL Draft, Shedeur Sanders is still waiting to hear his name called. One must wonder, “who will be drafted first, Sanders or Cooper Flagg?”
The highly hyped Colorado quarterback, who stunningly fell out of the first round on Thursday night, was not among the 70 players selected in the second and third rounds on Friday.
Three more quarterbacks were taken on Friday after two were called in the first round at the draft held in Green Bay, Wis. However, none of them was the son of Pro Football Hall of Fame member Deion Sanders, Shedeur’s head coach at Colorado.
The first quarterback off the board Friday came eight picks in, as the New Orleans Saints selected Tyler Shough with the eighth choice in the second round. Shough actually played in seven different seasons in college, starting at Oregon in 2018 before transferring to Texas Tech for the 2021 season and then Louisville for 2024.
The next two quarterbacks went late in the third round, with the Seattle Seahawks taking Alabama’s Jalen Milroe with the 92nd overall pick and the Cleveland Browns taking Oregon’s Dillon Gabriel two picks later.
Sanders’ statistics suggested he might be more highly prized by NFL teams targeting their next long-term quarterback. During his senior year at Colorado, Sanders led the Big 12 in passing yards (4,134), touchdowns (37) and passer-efficiency rating (168.2). He topped the nation with a 74 percent completion rate.
He led the Buffaloes to a 9-4 record, finished eighth in the Heisman Trophy balloting and earned Associated Press second-team all-American acclaim, with Miami’s Cam Ward receiving the first-team selection. Ward was the first overall pick in the draft Thursday, taken by the Tennessee Titans.
That capped a stellar four-year career playing for his father. In two seasons at Jackson State and two at Colorado, Sanders completed 70.1 percent of his passes for 14,347 yards, 134 touchdowns and just 27 interceptions.
The spotlight followed every move the Sanders family made over the last two years at Colorado, which carried over during the lengthy pre-draft process. Sanders’ potential destination was a hot topic on sports talk shows. Depending on the day, he was viewed as an ideal prospect for the Giants (who held the third overall pick), the Saints (ninth overall pick) and, worst-case scenario, the Pittsburgh Steelers (21st overall pick).
Sanders attended the NFL combine in February and measured in at 6-foot-1 and 212 pounds, but he did not throw for scouts until Colorado’s pro day in early April. On Saturday, the Buffaloes immortalized Sanders (and Heisman Trophy-winning teammate Travis Hunter) by retiring their numbers. There was still no sign that Sanders would be anything but a first-round selection.
But as draft day approached and uncomplimentary reports of Sanders’ interview skills and overly confident demeanor became public, the narrative shifted.
The final day of the draft is Saturday, with the fourth through seventh rounds. Of the teams believed to be most in need of a quarterback entering the draft, only the Steelers have yet to select one.
The Steelers are currently with the 21th pick of the fourth round, No. 123 overall.
–Field Level Media
