The 2025 NFL Draft took place from Thursday, April 24 to Saturday, April 26, invoking excitement and uncertainty for the upcoming season this September.
The Tennessee Titans had the first pick overall with their selection of quarterback Cam Ward from the University of Miami. After trading up, the Jacksonville Jaguars selected cornerback Travis Hunter from the University of Colorado Boulder, a polarizing move for a non-quarterback pick, but one that could pay off if his success at Boulder translates to his first season with the Jaguars.
“I’m super excited to go home,” Hunter said following his selection.
Many analysts and fans questioned the legitimacy of this pick long-term, though most agree that one should see Hunter’s future as a 50-50 outcome.
“We ended up bringing Travis Hunter to Jacksonville, and with that, he is somebody who is deserving of a first-round draft pick as a wide receiver, and he is worthy of a first-round draft pick as a corner,” Jaguars General Manager James Gladstone said following the trade. “Certainly, look forward to each of those elements showing themselves over the next few years while he is under his rookie contract, but yeah, we’re excited about just getting him in the boat, so to speak.”
Despite the shock of the Jaguars’ unexpected trade-up selection, fans across the country expressed even more confusion when Shedeur Sanders was left unselected after the first round. Sanders, a standout quarterback and son of Colorado Head Coach Deion Sanders, was selected on day three of the draft as the 144th pick by the Cleveland Browns. The Browns took two quarterbacks in the draft, a decision that the franchise deemed a result of flexibility with how the draft played out for Sanders.
“Once it got to a point where it felt like it was a pretty steep discount, we just felt like, especially relative to the alternative ways that we could use this selection, this made the most sense,” Browns General Manager Andrew Berry said post-draft.
But there is a persisting question that fans and analysts are asking: What caused Sanders to slide in the first place? A multitude of explanations lie at the heart of that line of questioning.
The first reason could be that Sanders’ pre-draft process was not up to par with his reputation. Rumors circled before the first round of the possibility that Sanders’ interviews were not as successful as expected. Another explanation for his slip is the lack of perfect-fit teams that had the ability to pick him in the early rounds. The New York Giants, Pittsburgh Steelers and New Orleans Saints were all listed as notable fits for Sanders, but all three had options that they preferred more, leaving the QB picked sixth in the fifth round on Saturday.
Despite his unexpected draft standing, Sanders has kept a positive attitude for the most part.
“I’m extremely grateful for the opportunity, throughout everything,” the freshly drafted quarterback exclaimed in a conference call on Saturday. “I don’t ever focus on the negative or even think about the negative, because the positive happened so fast.”
Even with this positive attitude some argue that Sanders could take this slide as a defeat. Though, other prominent NFL figures have expressed their belief that this will only motivate the 23-year-old to solidify his belonging in the league over his rookie year.
“There’ll be this huge chip on his shoulder,” Denver Broncos Coach Sean Payton predicted after Sanders wasn’t picked on the first two days. Payton has followed Sanders since junior high school and his first-round rookie last year, Bo Nix, was also the sixth quarterback drafted.
Overall, this year’s draft brought a variety of unexpected picks and hope for an exciting season this September, though there is no denying that the two Colorado alumni Sanders and Hunter will have a lot to prove in the upcoming year.
