Former NFL quarterback Boomer Esiason has revealed that several NFL owners instructed their teams to remove Shedeur Sanders from their draft boards ahead of the 2025 NFL Draft. Esiason claimed to have spoken with multiple contacts who work for the personnel departments of NFL teams, who said that the quarterback was never even on their board.
According to him, owners thought that Sanders came across as “entitled” during the pre-draft process and didn’t want him on their team.
‘Entitled’ Shedeur Sanders Was Removed From Several Teams’ Draft Boards Prior to NFL Draft
During a recent conversation on WFAN Sports Radio, Esiason revealed that Sanders’ draft slide was because of his attitude. The 1988 NFL MVP said that in his talks with his NFL personnel contacts, he found out that the player was removed from several teams’ boards entirely.
According to Esiason, Sanders’ interviews at the NFL Combine, coupled with his father’s public declarations about the player’s NFL future, led to his slide to Round 5.
“Shedeur Sanders just torpedoed himself. His attitude off the field, at the Combine. His dad didn’t help him either, you know. He’s on podcasts, talking about, ‘This is my son. If I can get him to where I want to get him to, I’m gonna do that.’ But you listen to this kid talk, right, prior or at the Combine about, ‘If you want a new culture in your locker room, I’m the guy to do that. I can turn it around.’
“I mean, he’s very high on himself. And I think he was very off-putting to many, many coaches and general managers in the league. And I’m telling you, right now, that I know this after talking to three different personnel people in the NFL this weekend. They didn’t even have him on their board.
“They took him off. And they took him off because the owner said, ‘Take him off. I don’t want that guy. I don’t want this entitled person on our team.’ And I don’t blame them.”
Boomer says some NFL owners ordered teams to take Shedeur Sanders off their draft boards:@7BOOMERESIASON @GioWFAN @WFANmornings pic.twitter.com/5BtvKsNpAa
— WFAN Sports Radio (@WFAN660)
Sanders Paying the Price for Over-Confidence
Talent alone can carry you a long way in the NFL. Teams have a long history of accepting stars with chequered off-field histories if it helped them win between the white lines. Even today, there are many examples of players who have troubled personal lives that are beloved by their teams and fan bases.
But if you’re not significantly contributing on the field, the leash is much shorter.
Sanders has yet to play a snap in the NFL and was already talking like a player that teams would be lucky to have. That bravado is accepted as part of the package with star players, but once teams passed on Sanders as a starter, it was far more off-putting.
Ultimately, no team wants its backup quarterback making headlines or drawing attention away from the team. Sanders has suffered the consequences of being misbranded as a star during the pre-draft process, something he himself heavily contributed to. Now, the only path to rebuilding his brand is through hard work and dedication, something he’ll have to prove that he has in his locker room.
