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Stephen A. Smith says Deion Sanders is to blame for Shedeur’s NFL Draft slide
By Paul Harvey
Published:
Stephen A. Smith was among those surprised to see the sudden slide by Shedeur Sanders leading up to the 2025 NFL Draft. For much of the buildup, the star quarterback from Colorado was viewed among the top QBs and top overall prospects in the draft.
That began to shift earlier this week with Sanders’s odds of being drafted in the first round plummeting ahead of the draft. Ole Miss QB Jaxson Dart eventually surpassed Sanders in the odds to be the second QB drafted behind Cam Ward, and the New York Giants made those odds a reality by taking Dart late in the first round.
So, what happened to cause Sanders to slide? Leading up to the draft, reports of poor interviews with the QB began to surface, but Smith believes the story goes deeper than that.
In fact, Smith pinned a lot of the blame on Deion Sanders, who served as Shedeur’s head coach in college. Smith believes that relationship clouded the perspective of some teams seeking to get relevant information on Shedeur from Colorado ahead of the draft.
“I believe that the biggest issue in all of this was Primetime Deion Sanders and the thought of having to deal with him,” said Smith. “I just read something this morning where they literally said, ‘you know what, one of the things people were really concerned about was, are they really getting the truth about (Shedeur) down at the program?’
“All I’m saying fellas is that it’s hard for me to sit here today and to watch a dude who was projected to be one of the top 2 picks, potentially, in the draft to drop completely out of the first rounds and to ignore all those reports that had come out about him leading up to the draft.”
With Sanders still on the board to start Friday night, when exactly will he hear his name called? The Las Vegas Raiders are the current favorite at DraftKings to select Sanders with -185 odds, and Las Vegas currently holds the 5th pick of the 2nd round (37th overall).
Next in line are the Pittsburgh Steelers at +225, but that would take some wheeling and dealing to get it done. The Steelers currently do not hold a 2nd-round pick after trading away their selection to obtain DK Metcalf.
The Cleveland Browns are the only other realistic option for Sanders at this juncture, with +275 odds. The Browns also have plenty of capital to potentially make the move with the 33rd overall pick and the 36th overall pick both coming within the first 5 picks Friday night.
We’ll soon find out where Sanders’s draft saga ends.
Paul Harvey lives in Atlanta and covers SEC football.
