New Cleveland Browns quarterback Shedeur Sanders was effusively grateful to the team that drafted him in the fifth round after an unprecedented slide the likes of which the NFL draft may never see again.
Sanders entered the pre-draft process as a potential No. 1 overall pick. As the weeks and months wore on, his status dropped some, though the majority of analysts still believed well into April that the former Colorado signal caller would fall inside of the top 10, if not the top four.
In the days and hours directly preceding the draft, reports of Sanders dropping to the mid- or low-first round, or possibly even to Day 2, began to circulate. However, at no point in the process, even after the draft began, did any expert predict he would plummet all the way to the fifth round.
Former Colorado Buffaloes quarterback Shedeur Sanders.
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Some insight into why Sanders slid so far has come out since. Namely, the 23-year-old QB didn't interview well with several teams, per ESPN's Adam Schefter.
Todd McShay of The Ringer summed it up during a pre-draft podcast, using the New York Giants as his example.
"Shedeur didn’t have a great interview with Brian Daboll in a private visit," McShay explained. "An install package came in, preparation wasn’t there for it, he got called out on it, he didn’t like that. Brian didn’t appreciate him not liking it."
McShay also spoke with multiple teams picking inside the top 10 prior to the draft who said essentially that Sanders didn't appear concerned with what evaluators thought of him.
Cleveland Browns QB Shedeur Sanders.
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But after the humbling experience of draft sliding in unprecedented fashion, Sanders talked to reporters about wanting to respect veterans in the locker room and prove to his teammates, coaches and the front office that he is prepared to work hard and operate in any role. He also admitted to having regrets on how he handled the pre-draft process.
“Do I have any regrets? I feel like in life [there's] always a way I can improve," Sanders said. "And some things that I could have done at the time that seemed right at the time, I could have went about in a different way."
Sanders joins a crowded QB room in Cleveland alongside an injured Deshaun Watson, Joe Flacco, Kenny Pickett and third-round pick out of Oregon Dillon Gabriel.
