Shedeur Sanders , the highly touted quarterback from Colorado , experienced a dramatic slide in the 2025 NFL Draft . He fell to the fifth round, where the Cleveland Browns selected him at pick No. 144, despite earlier projections as a top-five pick.
And even then, the Browns brass didn't exactly look enamored with their selection.
Former NFL quarterback Boomer Esiason, speaking on WFAN's "Boomer & Gio," revealed that multiple league owners instructed their teams to remove Sanders from their draft boards entirely, citing his entitled attitude as a significant deterrent.
Esiason, a former NFL MVP, noted that Sanders' brash confidence, exemplified by his claims at the NFL Combine about transforming team cultures, alienated coaches and general managers.
"When you listen to this kid talk, right prior or at the combine, about how if you want a new culture in your locker room, I'm the guy to do that, I can turn it around, he's very high on himself, and I think he's very off-putting to many, many coaches and general managers in the league," Esiason said.
According to Boomer Esiason, three NFL sources confirmed that Shedeur Sanders was removed from their boards due to ownership directives.
They didn't want him on their team. Period.
"I'm telling you right now, and I know this after talking to three different personnel people in the NFL this weekend, they didn't even have him on their board," Esiason explained.
"They took him off, and they took him off because the owner said, 'Take him off, I don't want that guy. I don't want this … entitled person on our team,' and I don't blame them."
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Several sports analysts tried to turn Shedeur's dramatic draft slide into a commentary on race in the NFL. Still, it bears repeating that Miami quarterback Cam Ward was selected number one overall without any issue.
The pre-draft process was further complicated by the influence of Sanders' father, Deion Sanders, a Hall of Famer who coached Shedeur at Colorado and Jackson State.
Deion's comments about potentially pulling an "Eli" maneuver—referencing Eli Manning 's 2004 draft-day trade demand—and his vocal control over Shedeur's NFL destination may have worsened perceptions of entitlement.
Boomer Esiason emphasized that Shedeur's failure to take the pre-draft process seriously, unlike his father's exceptional talent, which allowed Deion to bypass such scrutiny, contributed significantly to his fall.
Despite the controversy, Sanders joins a crowded Browns quarterback room, including veterans like Joe Flacco and Deshaun Watson , offering him a chance to prove his critics wrong through performance.
Will he rise above it all?
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