Shedeur Sanders breaks his silence on shock NFL Draft snub after QB slid out of first round
The former Colorado quarterback, son of NFL legend Deion Sanders, was passed over in all 32 picks of Thursday's first round.
Sanders had been tipped by some - including his father - to be a top-five pick but Cam Ward and Jaxson Dart were the only quarterbacks selected.
Ward was taken first overall by the Tennessee Titans, while the Giants - who had been strongly linked with Sanders - went for ex-Ole Miss QB Dart. The Pittsburgh Steelers also opted against the quarterback.
Sanders had decked out a special draft room where friends and family gathered for a party on Thursday evening.
But, at the end of the first night, the 23-year-old spoke to his loved ones about his snub, admitting 'we all didn't expect this, of course'.
This message from Shedeur Sanders after going undrafted in the 1st round is exactly why he has the resolve, poise and maturity to lead an NFL Franchise. He didn't hide. He stood tall in the face of adversity and disappointment. This adds to his testimony.
🎥 @DeionSandersJr pic.twitter.com/1tAoHCZpI1
— Robert Griffin III (@RGIII) April 25, 2025
But Sanders tried to remain upbeat, insisting he would be 'happy' regardless of what happens in the upcoming rounds of the draft.
'I feel like with God, anything is possible, everything is possible,' he said. 'I feel like this happened for no reason - all this is is of course fuel to the fire and under no circumstance we all know this shouldn't happen.
'But we understand we're on to bigger and better things. Tomorrow is the day, we're going to be happy regardless, legendary.'
There had been speculation ahead of the draft that Sanders' stock had tanked among certain teams.
His character in particular had been targeted following the combine, with the quarterback reportedly branded 'brash' and 'arrogant' following interviews.
Concerns about Sanders' arm strength have become an issue in recent weeks, too, though his father - Hall of Famer Sanders - laughed off that notion.
In 50 collegiate games, Sanders threw for 14,347 yards, with 134 touchdowns and 27 interceptions. He completed 70.1 percent of his passes and ran for 17 more scores.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Scotsman
27 minutes ago
- Scotsman
Ben Doak hands Steve Clarke timely Scotland boost with Liverpool impact amid £20m transfer interest
Ex-Celtic teen on target in pre-season friendly against La Liga side Sign up to our Football newsletter Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to The Scotsman, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Learn More Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting... Ben Doak has handed Scotland head coach Steve Clarke a timely boost by netting for Liverpool in a dazzing pre-season display against Athletic Bilbao. The 19-year-old winger is fit again after injury and was handed a start in the first of two friendlies which were staged back-to-back at Anfield on Monday night against the Spanish side. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad The opening match, featuring a mix of first-team stars and youngsters, saw the Reds claim a 4-1 victory with Doak on the scoresheet and also having a major hand in another goal. The second match also saw the hosts emerge victorious 3-2 thanks to Mo Salah and a Cody Gakpo double. Ben Doak celebrates scoring for Liverpool in the friendly win over Athletic Bilbao at Anfield. (Photo by) | Getty Images In match one, Liverpool went two goals up inside five minutes as another emerging talent - 16-year-old England youth Rio Ngumoha - opened the scoring before Doak provided the cross for Ngumoha to nod down for Darwin Nunez to add a second. Doak twice went close to adding a third, being denied by the woodwork from a tight angle before a sensational half-volley from 25 yards drew a diving save from Bilbao goalkeeper Alex Padilla. But the former Celtic youth got his goal three minutes before half-time as he burst past his marker in the box before firing an effort across goal which Padilla only succeeded in diverting into the net when it appeared to be going wide. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Doak was then replaced on 56 minutes before Harvey Elliot added a fourth but his eye-catching performance bodes well for Clarke and Scotland ahead of next month's World Cup qualifiers away to Denmark and Belarus. The teenager has impressed for Scotland since being handed the first of his six caps in September last year and was sorely missed in the Nations League play-off loss to Greece in March as well as the defeat to Iceland in June. He spent last season on loan at Middlesbrough in the Championship where he had a big impact with three goals and seven assists in 24 appearances prior to suffering a thigh injury in February which ended his season prematurely and ruled him out of the last two Scotland camps. Doak will now be raring to go for the upcoming internationals but where he is playing his club football by the time the crucial fixtures come around remains to be seen. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad According to respected Liverpool FC journalist David Lynch, the Scot is the subject of serious transfer interest this summer with West Ham and Wolves among the clubs keen.
The Guardian
28 minutes ago
- The Guardian
NFL preseason storylines: Cowboys chaos, the Browns‘ QB circus and Aaron Rodgers' last dance
Leave it to Jerry Jones to stink up the most optimistic time of year. The Cowboys owner has once again fumbled a contract negotiation with one of his stars. Despite fellow 2021 draftees Penei Sewell, Patrick Surtain II and Ja'Marr Chase signing long-term extensions, the Cowboys have allowed talks with Parsons to drag on. Last week, Parsons accused Jones of trying to circumvent his agent in negotiations and formally requested a trade. It's fun to imagine Parsons on the trade block. What kind of haul could the Cowboys get in a trade? Three first-round picks? Two? Would the Bills make a move? The Rams? Is there a team that wouldn't call? But let's be clear: Parsons isn't going anywhere. 'It's a negotiating tactic,' Jones said after Parsons' request. For once, Jerry is right. Myles Garrett submitted a trade request to the Browns in February. A month later, he signed a $160m extension. In a league with the franchise tag, a public trade request is one of the only levers a player can pull in negotiations. Parsons is simply playing his part in the public charade. This shouldn't be difficult. As a pass-rusher, Parsons is a one-man inferno. At times last season, he single-handedly bailed out Dallas' defense. Oh, and he is just 26 years old, slap-bang in his prime. Negotiations should have been as simple as putting the biggest non-quarterback contract in league history on the table and popping the champagne. Yet Jones has spent the offseason taking odd shots at his best player, from questioning (incorrectly) Parsons' injury history, to freezing his agent out of discussions, to debating why he would sign any player to a four or five-year contract. 'You can get hit by a car, seriously,' Jones said at one point. Seriously. By allowing talks to drag on, the Cowboys have watched Parsons' value creep up. The edge-rushing market has ballooned this offseason, first with Garrett and then TJ Watt signing a massive extension. Last year, the Cowboys could have locked Parsons into a deal worth $34m a year. Now, the price will be closer to $42m. The Cowboys will eventually cave – as they always do. They'll agree on a new deal on the eve of the new season, after lighting their training camp on fire and scoring Jones some headlines. The Vikings have a championship-caliber roster. They have elite skill players. They are loaded on both sides of the line of scrimmage. They have a top-five coaching staff. The only lingering question: their quarterback. How McCarthy slots into the Vikings' offense is perhaps the most important variable in the championship race. The No 10 pick in the 2024 draft missed his rookie season with a knee injury, while Sam Darnold caught fire in relief – until he didn't. Minnesota could have run it back with Darnold after a 14-win season, giving them a buffer to the McCarthy era. They didn't. They bet on their infrastructure, allowing Darnold to walk and clearing the path for McCarthy. It's a risk. Multiple playoff wins should be the expectation this year. And if McCarthy can be a solid starter in his debut season, the Vikings will have legitimate title aspirations. If you asked the computer to simulate the perfect circumstances for a first-year starter, it would probably produce something like what the Vikings offer. Head coach Kevin O'Connell has consistently produced high-wattage passing attacks, helping to generate easy chunk plays regardless of who is at quarterback. Justin Jefferson is the game's best receiver, Jordan Addison is a solid second option and tight end TJ Hockenson is a difference-maker when healthy. Minnesota also spent the bulk of the offseason upgrading both lines, notably adding Ryan Kelly and Will Fries from the Colts on the offensive side, one of the craftiest interior line tandems in the league. If there were deficiencies last year, it was the team's run game and conceding pressure up the middle. The new duo, along with rookie Donovan Jackson, should help patch over those issues. There were changes on defense, too. Brian Flores' wackadoodle scheming carried the Vikings through tough stretches last season. This year, his unit is deeper and more explosive, with veterans Jonathan Allen and Javon Hargrave offering extra punch up front. The Vikings can now toggle between Flores's bizarro looks and more basic set-ups, and should challenge the Eagles and Broncos to be the top defense in the league. If McCarthy does nothing but limit turnovers, the Vikings should keep pace with the rest of the NFC North. They will hope for more than that, but hammering away with the run game, hitting play-action shots and letting the defense feast is a viable path to the postseason. McCarthy thrived in that same environment at Michigan. If he plays with accuracy and keeps the offense churning, the Vikings will be a playoff force. What can you say about the Browns? There are banana republics with more stable leadership than Cleveland. It's early August, so it's not a full-scale disaster … yet. But the training camp reports make for grim reading. For a team in desperate need of a viable long-term starter, double-dipping on quarterbacks in the draft made sense. But the Browns now have a bloated quarterback competition, featuring 40-year-old Joe Flacco, a limping Kenny Pickett, and two underbaked rookies, Dillon Gabriel and Shedeur Sanders. No pressure, Kevin Stefanski (on Monday night, reports emerged they are signing a fifth quarterback, Tyler Huntley, because all of the unit bar Flacco are carrying injuries). Flacco is the nominal starter, despite team owner Jimmy Haslam saying he expects to see both rookies play at some point this season. Gabriel has received a ton of practice reps with the first team, but the early returns have been scattershot at best. Cleveland may hold on to all four quarterbacks into the regular season, unless one of the rookies grabs the starting gig in preseason, freeing up the team to move on from Pickett or Flacco. Chucking rookie quarterbacks into the mayhem to figure out what you have sounds like a fine idea until they line up behind a depleted group. Whoever winds up as the starter will be playing with an ad hoc roster: the offensive line is a mixture of fossilized former Pro Bowlers and projects; there is a lack of reliable pass-catchers outside of Jerry Jeudy and David Njoku. If you're looking for positives, watch the defense. The Browns have plenty of talent on that side of the ball, but even some of that has already been stripped away by injuries and a late retirement. It's shaping up to be a messy year. Once, the Browns were fun upstarts. Now, they're a depressing mystery again. If the team stumbles early, Stefanski could be out of a job by Thanksgiving. Speaking of hot seats. Mike McDaniel's seat in Miami is pretty toasty. After reaching the playoffs twice in McDaniel's first two seasons, the Dolphins fell apart last season. They were undone by injuries again, only this time it was the defense that disintegrated. They did little in the offseason to fill you with confidence. Terron Armstead, the team's franchise left tackle, retired. The offensive line still looks rickety. Jalen Ramsey was traded. Tyreek Hill kept up his on-again, off-again relationship with a trade request, although now he's committed to studying. Miami's offense will continue to produce fireworks, thanks largely to McDaniel, Hill, Tua Tagovailoa, Jaylen Waddle and De'Von Achane. And on paper, at least, the Dolphins have one of the most talented defensive front-sevens in the sport. Jaelen Phillips, Bradley Chubb, Zach Sieler, Chop Robinson and Kenneth Grant could form one of the nastiest pass-rushes in the league. Still, the balance of the remaining roster is dicey. Heading into the season, Miami's secondary is the flakiest position group in the league. Acquiring Minkah Fitzpatrick in the Ramsey trade will help, but he is the group's only proven starter. They already lost their top cornerback, Kader Kohou, for the season with a knee injury. Miami brought in Mike Hilton from the scrapheap to replace Kohou and will rely on Ifeatu Melifonwu and Ashtyn Davis, two safeties with shaky injury records, to play alongside Fitzpatrick. Storm Duck, currently slated to start, was a fun story a year ago as an undrafted free agent, but he was torched in meaningful snaps as a rookie. You know you're in trouble when Jack Jones, a fringe starter, goes from unemployed to a team's premier corner in 10 days. The hope is that the team's pass-rush will be so overwhelming that it can mitigate the impact of the secondary. But, at some point, it will be third-and-medium and someone in the secondary will need to make a play. Only Fitzpatrick is a dynamic playmaker, and he is on the downside of his career. The Dolphins haven't won a playoff game since 2000. If they miss the postseason again, McDaniel will probably be out. And the current roster has too many holes to be a serious threat to the Bills in the East. Take a look at the NFC West. It's stacked, comfortably the most competitive division in the league. The Rams came close to bouncing the Eagles in the playoffs last season with a young roster and have reloaded this year. The Niners remade their defense after last season's injury apocalypse. The Cardinals are no longer just an interesting side show; they have a bruising offense and a spicy defense. The Seahawks closed last season strong, putting together a top-five defense from Week 10 onwards, and could have one of the best units in the league this season. There are no slouches. The weakest single unit in the division may be the Seahawks' offense, and that could still crack the top half of the league. How the division shakes out will probably come down to how quickly Darnold can assimilate in Seattle. Was his career-best year in Minnesota a mirage? Will his talented but unproven offensive line hold up? Can a receiver room of Cooper Kupp, Marquez Valdes-Scantling and Jaxon Smith-Njigba offset the losses of DK Metcalf and Tyler Lockett? As ever, there are also the annual concerns about Matthew Stafford's injury status to throw into the NFC mix. But if Darnold's resurgence carries over and Stafford is healthy, then all four teams will have quality starting quarterbacks and spiky defenses. It's going to be a bloodbath. Buckle up, folks. You have one more season of Rodgers to deal with. Yes, Rodgers in Pittsburgh could be a farce. It probably will be a farce. The Steelers' decision to sign a 41-year-old Rodgers, who is two years removed from an achilles injury, after Pittsburgh *deep breath* traded for DK Metcalf, signed the receiver to a bumper extension, traded away George Pickens, benched Justin Fields for Russell Wilson, then told Fields that he was Their Guy, then told Wilson to take the first plane out of town, then lost Fields in free agency, then traded for Jalen Ramsey, then signed TJ Watt to a market-resetting extension is the kind of teenager-on-Madden approach to team-building usually reserved for the Jaguars, Panthers or the son of a Jets owner. It is weird to reach this point: somehow, the vaunted Steelers have become the league's most directionless franchise. But the Steelers are convinced they have the backbone of a championship contender. 'We're building this team to win a Super Bowl this year,' GM Omar Khan said recently. It's easy to chuckle at the Steelers assembling a 2022 All-Pro squad (hand up). But there's a path to at least division contention here. If Ramsey is even 70% of the player he was in his prime, he will be a linchpin on an already outstanding defense. Whether the offense can match the defense will come down to Rodgers' connection with offensive coordinator Arthur Smith, two stubborn offensive designers with divergent styles. Rodgers probably won't guide the Steelers to a Super Bowl. He looked a shadow of himself last season: hesitant to stand in the pocket, worried about getting hit, unable to avoid the rush as his accuracy dwindled to key parts of the field. But if Rodgers can stay healthy, he could perhaps Peyton Manning his way through a final season, keeping the Steelers competitive as they try to bridge one team to the next. If the on-field stuff turns out to be a disaster, his lasting legacy in Pittsburgh may be convincing Mike Tomlin that more substantive changes are needed.
Daily Record
an hour ago
- Daily Record
Kyogo out of sync at Birmingham as Chris Davies makes honest admission on ex Celtic hero
The £10million Japan striker hasn't hit the ground running and could start the season on the bench for Blues Ex-Celtic hero Kyogo could start the Championship campaign on the bench after being dropped for Birmingham's final pre-season warm-up. The Japanese striker ended his six-month nightmare at Rennes by joining the Blues in a £10million switch earlier this summer. But Kyogo hasn't hit the ground running at St Andrew's. The former Hoops goal machine was left out of the starting XI against Nottingham Forest on Saturday and his replacement, Jay Stansfield, netted the winner as Blues rounded off their summer programme with a 1-0 win. Kyogo made a 30-minute cameo in the second-half but had few opportunities and looked out of sync with his new teammates. Boss Chris Davies says the 30-year-old's clever off-the-ball runs aren't being spotted and admits more work is needed in the training ground. He said: "We analyse every minute of every game and try to highlight things, and he does make very, very good runs and a lot of them. "There are times where he's not been seen or found, but I want him to continue to run and continue to play with that energy. "You can see that he's quick. There was one where he pressed the goalkeeper and you could see his change of pace. "It is all still new for Kyogo coming into a new country, a new league and a new team, but you could see quite clearly what qualities he does have with the movement and the speed, and he's a very good finisher, although we haven't created too many chances for him in pre-season." Newly-promoted Birmingham kick off their quest for Premier League promotion in this weekend's curtain-raiser at home to Ipswich Town. And big-money signing Kyogo looks set to start the season on the bench - a far from ideal start at his new club after being frozen out at Rennes. You can get all the news you need on our dedicated Celtic pages, and sign up to our newsletters to make sure you never miss a beat throughout the season. We're also WhatsApp where we bring all the latest breaking news and transfer gossip directly to you phone. Join our Rangers community here and our Celtic community here.
