While Shedeur Sanders may have dropped down the NFL Draft rankings, his appeal to teams in need of a quarterback up top hasn’t really been in doubt.
The East-West Shrine Bowl took place at the end of January, and several leading draft picks were quite taken with Sanders back then.
“I had conversations with [Giants head coach] Brian Daboll and GM Joe Shane at the event. The interest from both the Giants and Titans was quite intense; they were really focused on Shedeur,” said former NFL All-Pro Shawne Merriman during Monday’s episode of “Up & Adams.”
Merriman, who is the founder and CEO of Light Out Sports Television, had media access to Shrine Bowl practices.
He mentioned that the buzz around the quarterbacks was so strong that he had to navigate around various media personnel trying to get close to Sanders, suggesting there was a real push to get to know him better.
Something clearly shifted between the Shrine Bowl and the draft itself. Merriman’s not sure what caused that, noting, “It’s hard to pinpoint what went down. Was it teams wanting to watch and wait on Shedeur, or maybe they were just trying to gather intel despite him not practicing?”
The Shrine Bowl serves as a showcase where college football talents perform in front of NFL scouts. While Sanders was invited and had opportunities to connect with teams, he opted not to participate in the practice sessions.
Merriman speculates this could explain his unexpected drop from a potentially higher pick—he might have been snatched up in the first round based on the interest observed at the Shrine Bowl, in contrast to being selected 144th overall.
During a meeting with the Giants, it was reported that Sanders struggled to identify mistakes in a mock playbook used in pre-draft evaluations, which apparently didn’t sit well with the team.
“I’m not in the meetings, so I can’t say for sure, but there was definitely interest in drafting Shedeur from both the Titans and Giants. From what I saw and heard at the Shrine Bowl, I expected him to land with one of them in the first round,” Merriman reflected.
