NFL Draft: Why Shedeur Sanders Won’t Slide Past Pick No. 21

There are just a couple of days before the start of the 2025 NFL Draft, and one of the most interesting prospects remains Shedeur Sanders. Perhaps no player in this year’s class has been as polarizing as the Colorado quarterback, who has seen his draft stock rise and fall on multiple occasions over the past few months.

Why Shedeur Sanders Will Be A First Round Pick In 2025 NFL Draft

But given the number of QB-hungry teams that exist in the league, there is little reason to believe that he’ll make it past pick number 21 this year.

That is, of course, where the Pittsburgh Steelers sit. They’ve been flirting with Aaron Rodgers and the possibility of adding the veteran and former MVP, but they’ll have to make moves starting on Thursday to finally address their issues at quarterback. If Sanders is available with the 21st overall pick, then he is likely to be the selection for Mike Tomlin and company.

Will he even make it that far, though? The team that currently has the best odds of any NFL team of selecting Sanders is the New Orleans Saints, who hold the 9th overall pick and have an immediate hole to fill at their QB spot.

The Steelers are among the teams exploring possibilities to move back in the first round, per @AdamSchefter, but if Shedeur Sanders drops past the Saints, things could get really really interesting in Pittsburgh 👀 https://t.co/jWYFypAqt5

— Brooke Pryor (@bepryor) April 21, 2025

There aren’t many teams between 9 and 21 that would use a first rounder on a quarterback this year, but there is always the possibility of a team moving up. The Browns and Giants are both candidates to draft a signal caller early on, and both have early second round picks that could be dangled as trait bait in order to get back into the first round.

For instance, Cleveland could package something like a second round pick (33rd overall), and third round pick (67th overall) and perhaps a second rounder in next year’s NFL Draft, all in order to move up into the late teens and jump ahead of the Steelers.

There are a handful of quarterbacks that are projected to come flying off of the board early in the second round. But don’t expect Shedeur Sanders to be available by that point in the selection process.