The biggest storyline of the 2025 NFL Draft was not a massive swing to trade up with Jacksonville Jaguars’ WR/CB Travis Hunter, and not a massive run at Linemen in the first round.
As usual, it was a slide. Very prominent slides.
Colorado QB Shedure Sanders was not selected in the first round of the draft, leading to many takes on either side of the coin.
ESPN shows that the draft day predictor was thought to be Shedale Sanders, who had a 96% chance, would go on the 21st pick.
Melkipper names the numerous Star/Hall of Fame quarterbacks passed in the draft. #nfl #nfldraft pic.twitter.com/2dnha4hjei
– Awful Announcement (@awfulannouncing) April 25, 2025
Searching for Sanders’ name on social media will jump from hell like a bat. But I don’t really think this is a conspiracy theory against Sanders, and this is not an example of racism in the NFL (although I can point out many other examples of that). I think this case is very simple:
Chedur Sanders has always been the first late to early second round QB.
I had Sanders as QB1, but I also didn’t have QB as the first round lock for Surefire. How Sanders plays the game, his precision thrown in the middle of the field, loves the downfield touch, playing quarterback position in the modern NFL is about having a superpower. Everyone chases after their own versions of Patrick Mahomes and Josh Allen, those who can control the game with their arms and legs.
Sanders isn’t.
Unlike top picks such as Jaden Daniels, Caleb Williams and Drake May, he doesn’t have the ability to take over the game with his rocket arms or feet. The NFL is willing to seize opportunities for those with that athletic ability. It’s a little more difficult to teach a guy to be more athletic. This is the whole premise behind the Colts, picking Anthony Richardson in No. 5 in 2023 (but it’s like they did that process after being drafted). Sanders does some of the other things well, but his athletic advantages aren’t as high as the prospects of other QBs taken in the first round, except for people like Bo Nix and Michael Penix Jr.
It brings us to the second part of why he fell. The NFL team is happy to deal with others if you are a great athlete. I might be watching the tea leaves too much, but I feel that I’m really saying this reason behind why Jackson Darts was filmed at 25 instead of Sanders.
Some contexts about why #giants I traded to get Jaxson Dart from multiple sources:
•Cultural Builders and Competitors – Returning Josh Allen from the perspective of those who want to play for him. He may be 21, but he leads like he is 35
•Elite Leadership Skills: Dirt is… https://t.co/wdmjlqaqng pic.twitter.com/v1u4hsmoly
– Jordan Schultz (@schultz_report) April 25, 2025
Most importantly, the section that the sauce says “After the helmet came off, I felt even more comfortable with the darts.” It feels like they weren’t too excited about Sanders in meetings and interviews. But again, the team is willing to hold back some of them if you are extremely talented. Caleb Williams went first overall despite being picked up about how he lost in the locker room or lost his mentality. If a man is overwhelmingly good, or if he has the athletic ability to overcome it, then that’s not important.
Frankly, Sanders doesn’t actually have the athletic second gear that most other people have. We’ve seen people like Joe Burrow and CJ Stroud win despite not being overwhelming athletes, but the Sanders didn’t alleviate the pressure the same way they did. I think the first round of dirt is a big reach, but multiple things can be true. Sanders is a better QB, but no team wanted to align the franchise with the advantages of his limited movement.
There is no conspiracy regarding Sanders’ slides. He was always the second half of the round player from the start, but this is absolutely fine.
