Shedeur Sanders was, by far, the most controversial prospect in the 2025 NFL Draft. He was accused of insulting the NFL Draft process, sandbagging meetings, and even taking FaceTime calls during interviews.
He fell out of the top rounds and suffered a humbling trio of days; how old will he be in an NFL training camp?
How Old Is Shedeur Sanders? Exploring the Browns’ Rookie
Sanders is 23 years old and was born on Feb. 7, 2002. The 6’1.5″, 212-pound quarterback played at Trinity Christian High School before going to play under his father, Deion Sanders, at Jackson State (2021-2022) and Colorado (2023-2024).
Throughout four seasons, Sanders played in 50 games, completing 1,267 of 1,808 passes (70.1%) for 14,353 yards, 134 touchdowns, and 27 interceptions. At one point, he threw a touchdown pass in 49 consecutive games, the longest streak in NCAA Division I history.
Sanders spent his entire four-year college career under the guidance of his father and played in a quarterback-friendly offense while also throwing to the best wide receiver in college football, Travis Hunter. Despite a prolific college career, Sanders slid to the fifth round of the NFL Draft, selected by the Cleveland Browns.
Factors contributing to this drop included concerns about his athleticism and decision-making under pressure, evidenced by being the nation’s most-sacked quarterback in 2023 with 52, adding 42 more in 2024.
However, he boasts elite-level accuracy, a good understanding of offensive schemes, has a high football IQ, and maintains his composure under pressure. He is not immobile, but he doesn’t have elite escapability, but he has a tendency to hold the ball too long. He doesn’t have a prototypical deep ball, and there are questions about how he will adjust to NFL-level defenses and speed.
A popular pro comp is former Mr. Irrelevant Brock Purdy, who grew into a Pro Bowl passer with the San Francisco 49ers. His accuracy, mental acuity, and grinder mentality could give him a solid NFL career.
Since his slide, he has said all of the right things, kept a sense of humor, and says he is ready to earn his place. He has a lot of work to do after brutal criticism regarding his pre-draft meetings. Some coaches and evaluators said he disrespected the draft process, blew his whiteboard meetings (where players are asked to break down plays or concepts).
Now that the draft is over, his real work begins as he enters a quarterback room populated with former first-round pick Kenny Pickett, veteran Joe Flacco, and the man who was drafted ahead of him in the third round, Oregon product Dillon Gabriel.