There have been shocking QB slides before, think Aaron Rodgers or Lamar Jackson, but none can really compare to the experience Shedeur Sanders had on draft weekend this year. Originally thought to be a top-five pick, he ended up sliding all the way to Day 3 of the draft, when he was selected No. 144 overall by the Cleveland Browns in the fifth round.
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At that point, the damage was done. The disrespect felt. Not only did Sanders slide that far, but he ended up being the sixth QB selected—and the second by the Cleveland Browns. They were in dire need of a QB, so they reached on Oregon’s Dillon Gabriel in the third, only to go back to the well with Sanders.
It wasn’t the NFL’s finest hour as a whole, and many have spoken out about how Shedeur Sanders is not the type of person who deserved that kind of treatment just for being a little cocky in team meetings. New York Giants wideout Malik Nabers, who might have thought Sanders would be his next QB for much of the pre-draft process, poked holes in several common Sanders criticisms.
“You can’t knock his talent. I heard a lot of things about he took a lot of unnecessary sacks. He had a bad O-line. He threw with a 70 percent with a bad O-line. Talk about his escaping the pocket, you can pull up plenty of clips of him escaping 3-4 tackles and throwing it down the field. Most of his receivers had 7-8 touchdowns. … Some things you just can’t knock. … Yeah, he might have some things that he might say on camera or off the field. Whatever it is dealing with that, that don’t have to do with how he plays football.”
Powerful. Real Talk. Malik Nabers on Shedeur & Draft
“You don’t do something like that to somebody like that. Not to a kid that’s been working his whole life. Been told that Deion’s kids were never gonna be as good as him”
️ @7PMinBrooklyn pic.twitter.com/oOk5TxHVse
— JaKi (@JaKiTruth) May 1, 2025
It was interesting to see Nabers talk about what made Shedeur great, mentioning that he ensures his receivers get their numbers. Nabers certainly would have appreciated that. Early in the draft process, many believed Shedeur Sanders would be N.Y.’s pick at No. 3 overall. Nabers and Sanders even played catch when the latter was visiting New York a couple of months ago.
Instead, the Giants took edge Abdul Carter to further boost their scary defensive line at No. 3. They then traded back into the first round to nab Ole Miss QB Jaxson Dart. Who was the better prospect between him and Shedeur was an ongoing debate, but trading up for him definitely felt like a reach.
However, having Dart in town didn’t make Nabers any less annoyed at the treatment of Sanders. He also noted the pressure and expectations that come with being Deion Sanders’ son.
“We all made different, so for them to judge him, on the things that he say or how he carries himself, how he carries himself is all about how his dad raised him. We all know Deion! They was just doing that to show how they’re bigger than what he wanted to stand for. And I understand that, but you don’t do that. Not to a kid like that that’s been working their whole life, been told that Deion’s kids was never going to be as good as him.”
The ‘they’ Nabers is talking about in the final bit is the NFL establishment, the so-called ‘shield’. Obviously, Nabers is of the mind that this was a concerted effort to humble Shedeur and, by proxy, his father Deion. It’s just a theory, but he’s certainly not the only one who believes that.
In any event, Shedeur Sanders saw his dream come true: he made it. He’s in the dance. Now it’s all about how he works, how he performs, how he acts with his new team. There will most likely be a camp battle between him and Gabriel, so he will need to be on top of everything in the weight room, film room, and practice field.
If the welcoming tweets to Shedeur from Browns veterans Denzel Ward and David Njoku were any indication—they didn’t send any when the team drafted Gabriel—it seems Shedeur already has a leg up on his competition, too.
