Shedeur Sanders’ fall in the 2025 NFL Draft has become a point of discussion, as former Los Angeles Rams Pro Football Hall of Fame Enshrinee Eric Dickerson shared claims about the circumstances surrounding the quarterback’s slide to the fifth round.
During an interview on the “Roggin and Rodney” show on AM570 LA Sports, Dickerson stated he was told by an NFL source that league officials instructed teams not to draft Sanders in order to “make an example out of him.” Dickerson said, “I tell you this much, what I heard from someone that’s in the NFL, that the NFL told [teams], ‘Don’t draft him. Do not draft him,’ (…) ‘We’re going to make an example out of him.’ And this came from a very good source. A very good source.”
Dickerson further elaborated that later during the draft process, someone reportedly called the Cleveland Browns and encouraged them to select Sanders despite previous instructions from the league. According to Dickerson, “And he said that, I won’t say who, somebody called the Cleveland Browns and said, ‘Don’t do that. Draft him.’ Because they weren’t going to draft him either. They weren’t going to draft him. They were forced into drafting him because somebody made a call to them.”
Sanders eventually was chosen by Cleveland with pick No. 144 overall after sliding out of rounds where many experts anticipated he would be drafted. In Cleveland’s preseason opener, Sanders recorded 138 passing yards and two touchdowns in a victory over the Carolina Panthers before missing a game due to an oblique injury.
Reflecting on April’s draft weekend, Dickerson expressed his view that Los Angeles missed an opportunity by not selecting Sanders as he slipped down the board. “I don’t see, and this is my opinion, why didn’t we draft Shedeur Sanders? (…) We could’ve got him cheap. We needed a backup quarterback. And I see we got Garoppolo and what’s the other kid’s name from Georgia? He seems like they’re doing a pretty good job. But I thought that would’ve been – we talked about it, Matt Stafford possibly this will be his last year if he got hurt. Just throw him into the mix. It wouldn’t have hurt anything. It would’ve cost you, what? A fourth-round pick or something like that?” said Dickerson.
The Los Angeles Rams are scheduled to play against Sanders and Cleveland in their upcoming preseason finale.
Meanwhile, veteran Joe Flacco has been named starting quarterback for Week 1 by Cleveland’s coaching staff; both Flacco and Sanders are expected to appear in Saturday’s game alongside Dillon Gabriel.
Additionally, sports analyst Albert Breer offered thoughts on possible reasons for Sanders’ fall during a media appearance: “I think he fell out of the first round for football reasons. I think he kept falling for everything else.”
