It turns out that Cleveland Browns quarterback Shedeur Sanders wasn’t the only one to face disappointment during his draft night slide.
The 23-year-old QB was widely expected to be selected in the first round of the 2025 NFL draft last month. However, the Big 12 Offensive Player of the Year waited through 143 picks before finally being chosen by the Browns in the fifth round on Day 3.
Many fans are still puzzled about why Sanders, who passed for 4,134 yards, 37 touchdowns, and 10 interceptions last season at Colorado, fell so far from his expected draft position. Various reports suggest that some questionable pre-draft activities may have contributed to his decline in stock.
ESPN draft analyst Matt Miller recently shared on the “Awful Announcing Podcast” that Sanders jeopardized his draft prospects by violating an NFL rule by not participating in the East-West Shrine Game despite accepting an invitation, failing to throw at the combine, and entering the draft without an agent.
Additionally, Sanders supposedly had a poor pre-draft interview with the New York Giants and even reportedly advised one team not to select him.
Despite the ample evidence explaining why NFL teams avoided drafting Sanders until the fifth round, one fan remains unconvinced.
According to The Independent, an anonymous fan has filed a $ 100 million lawsuit against the NFL over Sanders’ draft drop. The fan, known as “John Doe,” claims he experienced “emotional distress and trauma… as a fan and consumer” because of what transpired with Sanders, whom he believes was a victim of a league conspiracy.
“It was immediate frustration,” the fan told The Independent. “This guy was predicted to be the first or second pick, definitely no lower than the top five, and to see average players taken before him… it was frustrating.
“And to think that all the NFL owners were in collusion to not draft him was mentally frustrating and debilitating. For them to assume they can do this without consequences is unacceptable.”
This fan, who lives in Atlanta and identifies as a “dedicated Colorado football fan” who supported Sanders during his two seasons in Boulder, filed his lawsuit under an alias to protect his privately owned logistics company from scrutiny.
Additionally, the unnamed fan claims that NFL owners colluded to influence the draft process related to Sanders and applied “radical discrimination” to determine his draft position, which he argues violates the Sherman Antitrust Act.
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