Giants ‘would not leave Shedeur alone' at Shrine Bowl before things imploded: Shawne Merriman

New York Post

05-05-2025

While Shedeur Sanders may have fallen wildly far in the NFL draft, interest in him from quarterback-needy teams at the top of the draft wasn't always a question mark.
The East-West Shrine Bowl took place at the end of January — and some of the draft's top picks were still enamored with Sanders at that point in time.
'I talked to [Giants head coach] Brian Daboll and I also talked to the GM there (Joe Schoen), and I can tell you, between the Giants and the Titans, they would not leave Shedeur alone,' former NFL All-Pro Shawne Merriman said on Monday's 'Up & Adams' podcast with Kay Adams.
5 Kay Adams was joined by former NFL linebacker Shawne Merriman for Monday's episode of her podcast, 'The Up & Adams Show.'
Up & Adams Show with Kay Adams
Merriman is the founder and CEO of Lights Out Sports TV, which had the media rights to the Shrine Bowl's practices.
Merriman said that the interest in the polarizing quarterback prospect was so heavy that he was 'almost tripping over their digital people with cameras because they were in our way. They were trying to get as close as they were to Shedeur, so I knew they were very high on Shedeur.'
5 Shawne Merriman is pictured while speaking on Sirius XM at Super Bowl LIX.
Getty Images for SiriusXM
5 Shawne Merriman played eight seasons in the NFL, including six with the Chargers.
Getty Images
While he was blown away by the interest the Giants and Titans were showing in Sanders, clearly something went awry between then and the draft.
'I don't know what happened from the East-West Shrine Bowl and to the draft,' Merriman said. 'But whatever happened, caused everybody to slip or look past or not want to draft Shedeur. Because I can tell you right now that everybody was there to see him even though he wasn't practicing … the Giants — speaking of Brian Daboll and the GM there — and the Titans were very high on him and that was supposed to be their pick, so I'm not sure what happened at that point.'
The Shrine Bowl is an annual game bringing together college football stars to compete in front of NFL scouts and, although he was invited and attended to meet with teams, Sanders elected not to actually play.
5 Giants coach Brian Daboll
Thomas Salus-Imagn Images
5 Shedeur Sanders fell all the way to the fifth round of the NFL Draft.
Cris Tiller / USA TODAY NETWORK
Merriman believes that this, paired with his lack of participation at the combine and his reported poor meetings, could have been the difference in him being drafted first or third overall, compared to 144th — where he wound up being selected.
In a Giants meeting specifically, Sanders reportedly failed to identify errors in a mock playbook the team used in the pre-draft interview process. That led to the quarterback being 'pissed,' and Big Blue not appreciating his mistake nor his reaction afterward.
'I don't know exactly because I'm not in those meetings, but I can tell you that they wanted to draft Shedeur at that time — the Titans or the Giants,' Merriman said. 'He was going there 100 percent just based on what I've seen and just the conversations that were happening [at the Shrine Bowl], so I know that he was supposed to go to one of those two teams in the first round.'