Shedeur Sanders, the newly drafted Cleveland Browns quarterback, slid to the fifth round. It is widely believed his fall had nothing to do with his talents, with prior reports claiming he had poor interviews with NFL teams.
It is now being reported that Sanders may have intentionally “sandbagged” those interviews to turn off teams and avoid being selected by them.
Shedeur Sanders Accused of Blowing Off NFL Interviews With Teams He Didn’t Want
Despite being rated as one of the top two quarterbacks in the class, Shedeur Sanders was the sixth quarterback to be picked in the 2025 NFL Draft. CBS Sports’ Jonathan Jones seems to know the reason why.
According to Jones, Sanders rubbed teams off in the wrong way.
Awful: Shedeur Sanders may have purposely tanked his pre-draft interviews with NFL teams he didn’t like, per @jjones9
“At some of those [combine] meetings with certain teams that maybe Shedeur Sanders didn’t really want to go to… I was told that he more or less sandbagged in… pic.twitter.com/VvOOpXiFAg
— Dov Kleiman (@NFL_DovKleiman) April 29, 2025
“At some of those [combine] meetings with certain teams that maybe Shedeur Sanders didn’t want to go to, I was told that he more or less sandbagged in those interviews,” Jones said.
‘I don’t know if he didn’t take them seriously, what it was, but he did not give it his all in some of those interviews, he added. “Rubbed some teams the wrong way.”
Last season, Sanders led Colorado to a 9-4 record while throwing for 4,134 yards and 37 touchdowns.
Jones believes Sanders’ talent on the field had little to do with him falling so low in the draft, instead claiming it resulted from how he handled the draft buildup.
“Shedeur Sanders was clearly talented enough to be selected in the top five when it comes to quarterbacks; he was a top-five quarterback in this year’s class,” he continued. “The difference here is how he and those around him handled the draft process.”
KEEP READING: Cleveland Browns Reveal 5 Must-Know Facts About Shedeur Sanders
“Then you continue, where it was a pro day that, frankly, was just sort of average,” Jones added.
“He gets his jersey number retired at Colorado, something that’s just not seen in major college football, how quickly it was done, and considering the lack of accolades in his career. “All of these things began to add up for teams.”
While it’s still unknown whether Sanders intended to “throw” these interviews or not, throughout his draft slide, headlines emerged that his pre-draft interviews were some of the best executives had seen.
Regardless, Sanders was selected with the 144th overall pick by the Cleveland Browns, where he’ll join a crowded QB room comprising of Deshaun Watson, Joe Flacco, Kenny Pickett, and fellow rookie Dillon Gabriel.
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