Denver Broncos head coach Sean Payton never needed a quarterback entering the 2025 NFL Draft, which is always a good place to be in.
Bo Nix, the team’s first-round draft choice in 2024, showed tremendous promise as a rookie, helping lead Denver into the playoffs out of a tough AFC West division.
But that didn’t mean Payton wasn’t evaluating the quarterbacks available in this year’s draft class, especially Shedeur Sanders, who played down the road in Boulder for the Colorado Buffaloes the past two seasons.
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Sanders took over the NFL Draft storylines, as he slipped into the fifth round before the Cleveland Browns eventually took him with the No. 144 pick. Due to the unexpected fall down the draft board, Payton issued a warning to NFL teams about the prospect he had gotten to know really well.
“I saw [Shedeur] when he was in junior high, and then I saw him in high school, and then I saw him when he was a sophomore in high school when they were on their way to Florida,” Payton said, via ESPN. “He’s going to, like there’ll be this chip on his shoulder, and beware because this guy is going to play in this league.”
Payton was among the many coaches who attended Colorado’s pro day, or, as Deion “Coach Prime” Sanders called it, “We Ain’t Hard to Find Showcase.”
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Payton came away very impressed with what Sanders had put out on the practice field.
“We sat there. I watched right behind him throwing. . . . He had an outstanding pro day,” he explained. “I think we all are surprised, and yet the talent – holy cow, if you’re a team that needs a quarterback.”
Now, Payton and the elder Sanders have a strong relationship, which was showcased on the latter’s Instagram when he posted a picture of the two of them at the pro day together smiling.
But Payton wasn’t just surprised because he knows the Sanders family well. Many others couldn’t believe he had slipped that far, to the point where Browns GM Andrew Berry admitted they had taken him because he had been the best prospect available at “the most important position.”
“It’s surprising. We evaluated him,” New England Patriots executive vice president of player personnel Eliot Wolf said after Day 2, via ESPN. “I had the opportunity to watch him play against Oklahoma State this year. . . . It was interesting to see that he’s still available, and I’m sure there’s going to be a fit for him tomorrow.”
Jerry Jones, the Dallas Cowboys owner who knows Deion Sanders very well, given his time with the organization, added: “I watched two or three ballgames with [Shedeur]. So, with my knowledge, I know where the character is there, and boy, it is great character. It is an unbelievable competitive winning character for sports. OK? And so I can tell you that.”
Shedeur Sanders admitted this “wasn’t the plan,” especially considering the first-round grades many had given him. And while there likely won’t be anyone giving a pinpoint answer as to why he slipped down the draft board, reports have come out that he had bad meetings in the pre-draft process with multiple teams, and perhaps they were a factor.
Either way, Sanders celebrated at his home in Texas when the Browns finally took his name out of the draft pool. He’s ready to go to work in a crowded quarterbacks room, which includes fellow NFL Draftee Dillon Gabriel, whom Cleveland took in the third round over Sanders, Joe Flacco, Kenny Pickett and Deshaun Watson, though his status for 2025 is up in the air due to injury.
“The time that we spent with Shedeur and what he’s done throughout his college career is impressive,” Berry said. “He’s an impressive young man. He’s a really good quarterback.”
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