Entering the 2025 NFL Draft, the Pittsburgh Steelers were being heavily linked to former Colorado quarterback Shedeur Sanders. However, the team opted to pass on him repeatedly throughout the draft until he was selected in the fifth round by the Cleveland Browns.
Despite needing a quarterback of the future, the Steelers did not see that in Sanders. Instead, they waited until the sixth round of the draft to draft Ohio State standout Will Howard.
Sanders will be looking to prove Pittsburgh wrong for passing on him and will have a great chance to do so. He’s playing for one of their arch-rivals, but the Steelers were very confident in their decision to pass on him.
Why did Pittsburgh not have interest in Sanders? Some of their reasoning has now been revealed.
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According to Ray Fittipaldo, a beat writer covering the Steelers, the team simply did not grade him within the first five rounds. He also suggested that there might have been concerns about his dad, Deion Sanders.
“I think mostly, it had to do with, they didn’t have a grade on him within the first five rounds. I think the second part of that equation, and this was never really discussed, you’ve seen some leaks with other teams across the NFL,” Fittipaldo said.
“Now, a lot of people just didn’t want to deal with Deion Sanders and what that might be down the road after he’s done at Colorado. So, I don’t know if the Steelers felt that same way, but they did not have a top-five grade. A top-five round grade on Shedeur Sanders, and that’s why they went the route they went.”
There have been a lot of questions about why Sanders may have gone through the slide he did in the draft. He was projected by most analyst to be a first or second round pick. Not being drafted until the fifth round was a major difference.
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Perhaps many teams across the league simply did not buy into the Sanders hype. Many may not have had him graded in the top five rounds.
Outside of his play on the field, the situation with Sanders’ dad and some questions about his character were talked about on end.
Regardless of the entire reason, it’s clear that Pittsburgh simply did not see franchise quarterback potential in him. That led to the Steelers being more than comfortable passing on him.
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