Shedeur Sanders ended up a fifth round pick of the Cleveland Browns in the 2025 NFL draft after spending a good deal of time being discussed like he was a potential top five pick. He wasn't even the first quarterback the Browns took in the draft.
At one point at least one team did have him as the top player on their draft board. In the latest episode of the Scoop City podcast, Dianna Russini talks about how and why Sanders fell so far.
"At one point towards the end of the season the New York Giants had Shedeur Sanders on their board ranked number one," Russini told Chase Daniel. "So once they realized they weren’t going to get Cam Ward, Shedeur to them was their top quarterback. So how does he not get picked by them? Well, something between the end of the season and draft. Something happened. Well, what happened? You got to know Shedeur. And they got to meet with him. And Brian Daboll got to talk with him. And members of the Giants got to spend more time and that time they were able to learn more about the player."
The Giants ended up taking Abdul Carter with the No. 3 pick and then traded back into the first round to take Jaxson Dart at No. 25.
While it's unclear how high other teams had Shedeur at the start of the process, the common theme was that it didn't go well. "The Giants aren’t the only example of an experience that wasn’t exactly fireworks," Russini said. "It wasn’t a match made in heaven. There were a lot of teams that I spoke to that would call the meeting they had with Shedeur just okay. He did not blow the socks off of anyone."
According to Russini, teams felt Sanders was approaching the team meetings like they were recruiting visits instead of job interviews. She also said that one team suggested that if Shedeur had an NFL agent he would have been better prepared for the process.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as New York Giants Had Shedeur Sanders No. 1 on Their Draft Board a Few Months Ago.