Shedeur Sanders’ NFL dream weekend turned into a slow-motion nightmare no young quarterback ever wants to experience. Once viewed as a surefire first-rounder, the Colorado Buffaloes star sat through Day 1 and Day 2 of the 2025 NFL Draft without hearing his name called. Sanders, known for his pinpoint accuracy and high football IQ, found himself still on the board entering Day 3. A brutal blow for a player who had been projected inside the top 20 picks just months earlier. And while the wait itself was painful enough, what happened at his draft party in Texas managed to pour salt into an already open wound.
As Shedeur Sanders watched the draft unfold alongside his father, Hall of Famer Deion Sanders, and family. He was livestreaming the night’s events on Twitch. Spirits were understandably tense but hopeful. Then, the unexpected happened. Sanders received a phone call from an unknown number mid-stream. At first, it looked like the moment everyone had been waiting for. “How are you, man?” the caller asked. Sanders, his voice filled with anticipation, responded, “Good, been waiting on you.” But as the conversation stumbled forward, it slowly became heartbreakingly clear: it was a prank.
The phone call wasn’t from an NFL team ready to change his life. It was a cruel joke, caught live for the world to see — a moment so awkward and painful you could almost feel the air suck out of the room. Shedeur didn’t let the prank rattle him publicly. A video later surfaced via Deion Sanders Jr., showing Shedeur playing catch and staying composed even after realizing what had happened. SS gave some context to the chaos, saying, “Nobody got that number but Coaches, strictly for that reason.” Then he dropped a line that showed real maturity from the young QB: “Why get mad? They want you to have a certain type of reaction to it.” It’s an answer that hints at the discipline drilled into Sanders’ DNA from growing up around the game’s brightest minds.
Instead of letting anger or frustration consume him, Shedeur chose to show grace — a move that speaks volumes about the kind of leader he’ll be in an NFL locker room. Still, the incident opens a can of worms. If the number was indeed only shared with NFL coaches and staff, it raises deeper concerns about who would leak such sensitive information and why. It’s one thing to evaluate a player’s tape; it’s another to attack his character in underhanded ways.
Shedeur Sanders on the Random Phone Call during the Draft
“Nobody got that number but Coaches, Strictly for that reason”
“Why get mad ? They want you to have a certain type of reaction to it”
: @DeionSandersJr pic.twitter.com/gYbJgrgXxV
— We Coming (@SkoBuffsGoBuffs) April 26, 2025
If someone inside an NFL organization orchestrated or even enabled that prank, it paints a much darker picture than just a “bad interview” or “attitude red flag” narrative. And it certainly wouldn’t be the first time quiet whispers behind the scenes influenced draft stocks more than on-field performance ever could.
Meanwhile, the Giants’ draft decisions only fueled more speculation about what teams really thought of Sanders. New York’s GM Joe Schoen, who traded up to No. 25 to draft Jaxson Dart instead of Sanders, was tight-lipped when pressed about Sanders’ surprising slide. Through it all, Sanders’ stock might have taken a hit this weekend, but his resilience shone even brighter. Football has always been a game of inches and intangibles. The kid’s not broken; he’s battle-tested.
And soon enough, a team willing to look past the noise and see the competitor underneath will be very glad they did.
Shedeur Sanders’ surprising slide, what’s going on?
The NFL world was left scratching their heads Friday night as Shedeur Sanders’ name remained on the board way longer than anyone expected. During NFL Network’s draft broadcast, insiders Daniel Jeremiah and Joel Klatt tried to make sense of it, and their take was pretty eye-opening.
“If it’s just as a player, I don’t have an answer for you… You can make the case [teams] felt like starters go in the first round, there’s no reason to take a backup in the middle rounds. Just wait. If you’re going to take a backup, take a backup later,” Jeremiah said, on X. Translation? Teams might just be playing the long game with backups.
But Klatt didn’t stop there. He pointed straight to what many were whispering about behind the scenes. “This is not on the field. If this is just about his playing ability he’s going to be drafted by this point. So it’s off the field. It’s personality. It’s fit with an organization. It’s a meeting that didn’t go the right way,” he explained. “Now this is where it gets into a difficult question… Now you’re going to draft him in for sure, a backup mode, as a big story,” Klatt added.
Just because some of Sanders’ pre-draft meetings with teams did not go well, the remarkable freefall has fans confused. Sanders was touted as the second-best passer in the draft class. But five passers have been selected, and Shedeur is still waiting to hear his name called.
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