NFL Draft: Sanders falls out of Round 1, Jags take Travis Hunter at No. 2
USA TODAY Sports’ Mackenzie Salmon breaks down the biggest storylines from Round 1 of the 2025 NFL Draft.
Sports Pulse
Shedeur Sanders’ NFL dream never truly began before it started looking like a nightmare.
The first three rounds of the 2025 NFL draft came and went over the first two days of the annual event without any of the 32 teams picking Sanders despite every team having multiple chances to do so. Entering the fourth round Saturday, the final day that contains Rounds 4-7, Sanders will be available.
Before the draft, he was seen as a potential top-three pick. Now, he’ll be a Day 3 pick and the sixth quarterback taken in the class at best.
It was seen as somewhat of a surprise Sanders even lasted until Round 2. But for all of the outrage espoused on sports talk shows over the 24 hours between the first and second round, the noise will only increase as to why Sanders’ slide occurred.
Two teams linked to Sanders, the New York Giants and New Orleans Saints, picked quarterbacks earlier in the draft in Jaxson Dart (25th overall) and Tyler Shough (40th overall), respectively. The proceedings took a more dramatic turn when the Seattle Seahawks took Jalen Milroe from Alabama in the third round (92nd overall) and the Cleveland Browns drafted former Oregon and Oklahoma signal-caller Dillon Gabriel two picks later.
The Pittsburgh Steelers and Las Vegas Raiders remain as potential landing spots for the Big 12 Offensive Player of the Year.
On Thursday, Sanders made it clear he felt he was worthy of a first-round pick and told a group gathered at the Sanders family home in Texas for a draft party “this shouldn’t have happened,” according to a video shared by his father and coach at Colorado, Pro Football Hall of Famer Deion Sanders.
The topic of Shedeur Sanders’ fall garnered the attention of President Donald Trump on social media. ESPN’s Mel Kiper Jr. remained flabbergasted by Sanders’ availability, while ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith also referred to Sanders as a first-round talent.
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