Shedeur Sanders’s Draft Fall: Narratives
Falling all the way from a media projected top 10 pick to a round 5 selection, Shedeur Sanders’s slide to draft day 3 was the main headline of the 2025 NFL Draft. Sanders, considered to be a top 5 quarterback in this year’s draft by the media and his peers, ended up being the 6th quarterback selected. Multiple quarterback-reliant teams passed on Sanders multiple times before the Cleveland Browns traded up to select the former Jackson State and Colorado University quarterback at pick 144.
This fall stunned not only current and former NFL athletes, but the media and highly renowned draft analysts including ESPN’s Mel Kiper.
“I think it’s disgusting. I don’t understand what the heck is going on with this,” Kiper said live during the draft. “5th player on my board – it’s never happened before in 47 years where a player that high has dropped this far.”
Media Narratives Look to Find Who is at Fault
Many narratives have been written about Sanders’s draft selection and the cause for his slide. Some NFL veterans and former players believe that Sanders fell in draft position due to his pre-draft interview process. Sanders turned down interviews with select teams prior to the draft and went on the record telling teams not to select him if they don’t want the culture of their franchise to change.
Some believe that Sanders’s draft fall is a part of a larger effort to ‘humble’ the NFL rookie and his father, Deion Sanders. Deion Sanders was an eight time pro bowl selection and six time first team all-pro selection in the NFL, along with playing 9 seasons in the MLB. He is widely considered one of the best defensive backs of all time, but some believe that his involvement in his sons’ draft processes ended up hurting their stock.
Deion Sanders was ridiculed on social media after Shedeur Sanders slid in the draft, with fans highlighting a tweet from 2024 in which Deion claimed Shedeur would be a top 5 pick. NFL analysts believe that Deion Sanders was being told that Shedeur Sanders was a top pick, and that in turn Shedeur Sanders declined interviews with teams due to being given this information.
Deion Sanders represented both of his sons, Shedeur and Shilo Sanders, as an agent during the draft process. Shilo Sanders, a linebacker who was signed as an undrafted free agent by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, made light of the impact of Deion Sanders being their agent in a joke said during a live stream of the draft process. “Dad was our agent, but that hasn’t been working out too good. So today I had to sign with an agent,” Shilo Sanders said.
Did The NFL Want to ‘Humble’ The Sanders Family?
During an interview, former NBA athlete and Basketball Hall of Fame inductee Carmelo Anthony referred to Sanders’s draft slide as ‘the dark side of sports.’ Anthony claims that the NFL as an organization wanted to attack the Sanders family.
“This is an attack at Prime, in a sense. But it’s an attack on the black family… You can’t go from being ‘he’s number one or number two pick’ to just falling off the draft board. That’s a lot of conversations, that’s a lot of [expletive]. That’s a lot of phone calls,” Anthony said.
Anthony also believes that the NFL was trying to make an example out of Sanders to other black athletes about how they carry themselves both on and off the field.
“You can’t fault me for wearing chains and iced-out watches. I ain’t do nothing illegal,” Anthony said. “Everybody want to see the rise. But when you get there as a black family and as a black man who’s doing it, then it’s like ‘Nah. He’s too boisterous. He’s too flamboyant. He’s shining too much. He’s too loud. He needs to sit down.’”
The narrative around NFL franchises’ disdain for Sanders’s attitude was furthered by a prank phone call made to his phone by the son of Atlanta Falcons’ Defensive Coordinator, Jeff Ulbrich. Ulbrich’s son recorded a video of himself calling Sanders during the draft, posing as the general manager of the New Orleans Saints.
He tells Sanders, “we’re going to take you with our next pick here,” before saying, “you’re going to have to wait a little bit longer man. Sorry about that,” and hanging up. The NFL fined the Falcons $250,000 and Ulbrich $100,000 for the prank.
Write Your Own Narrative
At Spotlight PR, we know that a media narrative is not always representative of a person or a business. We want to help you create your own narrative. You can’t always control the headlines, but we can help you get ahead of them so that you can write your own story. Contact us and book your consultation today.
Andre White is the Digital Media Specialist of Spotlight PR LLC. Check out our other writings on our blog, The Pitch.