Does this NFL Draft have a 'Shedeur Sanders'? Explaining how Colorado QB's slide to Browns is irreplicable

Does this NFL Draft have a 'Shedeur Sanders'? Explaining how Colorado QB's slide to Browns is irreplicable originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.

The biggest story in the 2025 NFL Draft was a fifth-round pick.

That's because the fifth-round pick was Colorado QB Shedeur Sanders, who went on a historic slide before the Cleveland Browns took him with the 144th overall pick.

It became a story bigger than sports. President Donald Trump even weighed in as Sanders slid down the draft board.

That was about a year ago. The 2026 NFL Draft is here. Is there a Sanders moment coming?

MORE:The full origin story of ESPN's NFL Draft pick chime

Does this NFL Draft have a 'Shedeur Sanders'?

Simply put, no.

It's unlikely that any future NFL Draft will have something happen quite like what happened with Sanders.

For most of the college football season, he was viewed as a potential No. 1 overall pick. Even when Cam Ward took over that mantle, Sanders was listed by almost everyone as a first-round choice.

He was, on most analysts' boards, the No. 2 QB in the class behind just Ward -- and ESPN's Mel Kiper Jr. famously had Sanders as his QB1, ahead of Ward.

But somehow, all of those analysts missed the mark. Sanders slid, and slid, and slid. Every NFL team had multiple chances to draft him. None did.

The Browns even took a different QB, Dillon Gabriel, before Sanders.