If you had told any football fan a month ago that Shedeur Sanders would be waiting until Day 3 of the NFL Draft to hear his name called, they’d have laughed you out of the room. Yet, that’s exactly what occurred.
Advertisement
Sanders endured one of the most painful freefalls in modern NFL Draft history, slipping all the way to the 144th pick in the fifth round, where the Cleveland Browns finally scooped him up. We’re talking about the same guy who was dubbed the first overall pick just a few months ago. Recently, his draft stock took a hit, but picking him on Day 3 would have sounded like a travesty — until, of course, it happened before our eyes.
The emotional toll of that tumble was visible even to the fiercest haters of the quarterback, who were left flabbergasted by the turn of events. But for NFL legend Michael Irvin, the fallout wasn’t just heartbreaking — it was criminal.
“The crime — the $40 million robbery that just took place [with] Shedeur Sanders, or should I say, the $50 million robbery of Shedeur Sanders,” Irvin said in his latest video on YouTube. “Because that’s what I just witnessed.”
Why did Irvin say such a thing? Well, if Shedeur had been drafted in the top three, he would’ve been looking at a contract worth upwards of $45-48 million, fully guaranteed over four years. Cam Ward, for example, will be making $48.8 million at Tennessee.
Instead, as a fifth-rounder, Shedeur Sanders will earn roughly $4.6 million throughout his rookie contract, with a first-year salary around $952,000. That’s a staggering loss of more than $40 million, all for reasons that remain opaque at best.
Coming back to the Dallas Cowboys legend, his outrage also hinted at deeper suspicions. He wondered aloud if something unseen was at play behind the scenes, questioning whether “dark spots” — negative rumors or hidden issues — or backchannel calls had influenced Sanders’ fall in the draft.
“All my life, the years that we have processed quarterbacks, watched quarterbacks, rated quarterbacks, I’ve never seen a quarterback rated like this, done like this,” Irvin added. “I wonder if Cleveland got a call from somebody in the NFL saying, we got to draft this kid or something has to happen, or we got to lift whatever dark spot we put on him or something has to happen.”
Michael Irvin calls Shedeur Sanders being drafted in the 5th round of the NFL Draft a $50 million robbery, and questions how the Cleveland Browns knew Shedeur Sanders would still be available that late in the draft.
( Michael Irvin/YouTube) pic.twitter.com/YbQ1LCbJvp
— The Art Of Dialogue (@ArtOfDialogue_) April 28, 2025
Irvin didn’t, however, blame the Browns for eventually making the smart move to grab a prospect like Shedeur Sanders at a discount. “I can’t be mad at Cleveland if they played the cards and picked him up in the fifth round and saved $50 million,” he said.
What the former Cowboys WR saw in the slide wasn’t a reflection of Sanders’ talent, but a shameful moment for the league.
“Shame on you,” Irvin concluded. “They just robbed this young man of $50 million. And it wasn’t on his playing ability.”
All said and done, the good news for Shedeur Sanders is that the slide is over. The draft is done.
The bad news, however, is that the onus is now on him to prove he deserved to be a first-round pick. Now begins the real work: turning every slight, every missed opportunity, into fuel. As Michael Irvin’s fiery reaction proves, the world will be watching — and perhaps rooting a little harder — for him to prove them all wrong.
