Shedeur Sanders Not Selected in First Round of NFL Draft

Shedeur Sanders will have to wait to learn his NFL fate. 

The Colorado quarterback and son of Buffaloes coach and Pro Football Hall of Famer Deion Sanders wasn’t taken in the first round of the NFL Draft on Thursday. Before the most recent college football season, his father predicted he would be a top-five selection.

His teammate, Heisman trophy winner Travis Hunter, was taken second overall by the Jacksonville Jaguars, who traded up with the Cleveland Browns to draft him. 

Miami’s Cam Ward, who went No. 1 overall to the Titans, was one of two quarterbacks taken in the first round.

Sanders led the Buffaloes to their first bowl game in eight years alongside Hunter after following his father from Jackson State to Colorado in 2023. He was linked to quarterback-needy teams such as the Giants, Browns, and Saints, all of which drafted in the top 10. But those teams went in different directions. 

The 6-foot-1 quarterback was also linked to the Dolphins, who drafted No. 13 and the Steelers, who picked 21st; both teams passed on Sanders, too. The Giants traded with the Texans for the No. 25 overall pick, but used it to select Mississippi quarterback Jaxson Dart instead of Sanders. 

By falling to the second round, Sanders’s four-year rookie contract will not include a fifth-year team option. There is a dropoff in money, too. The 32nd overall pick signs a five-year deal for roughly $14.6 million, while the 33rd pick signs a four-year deal worth roughly $11.8 million, about a $3 million difference. Contracts continue to fall along with the draft slot.