Regardless of how his NFL career pans out, the Shedeur Sanders slide in the 2025 NFL draft will be remembered as one of the most shocking storylines to ever come out of the event. Never before have football fans seen a prospect fall so dramatically relative to predraft expectations without an obvious reason why.

Deion Sanders assumed his son would be a high first-round pick, and he approached the draft that way. He had Shedeur sit out the Senior Bowl. Shedeur attended, but didn’t throw. He was at the NFL Combine for interviews, but once again didn’t throw.

The Cleveland Browns saw Dillon Gabriel as a safer bet than Shedeur Sanders, hence taking him two rounds ahead of the Colorado quarterback in the 2025 NFL draft.