Sanders reportedly struggled in multiple interviews
As Colorado quarterback Shedeur Sanders continues his historical draft tumble, more details are emerging as to why this is happening. According to CBS Sports NFL insider Jonathan Jones, Sanders’ slide is a reflection of how he carried himself through the pre-draft process.
An unnamed coach even told NFL Media that his interview with Sanders was “the worst formal interview I’ve ever been in in my life,” which leads to several other questions: Did Sanders struggle in every interview? Did he purposefully bomb interviews with teams he didn’t want to go to? Todd McShay of The Ringer reported recently that Sanders’ interview with the New York Giants and Brian Daboll was one that did not go well.
“Shedeur didn’t have a great interview with Brian Daboll in a private visit,” McShay said. “An install package came in. Preparation wasn’t there for it. [He] got called out on it. Didn’t like that. Brian didn’t appreciate him not liking it.”
The Giants of course passed on Sanders at No. 3 overall, then traded back into the first round at No. 25 overall to take Ole Miss quarterback Jaxson Dart over Sanders.
McShay said he knew two personnel people that were members of quarterback-needy teams picking in the top 10 of the draft order that were in the rooms when Sanders interviewed. McShay said that these interviews weren’t disastrous, but he was told they simply did not go well. Those personnel people told McShay they didn’t get the sense that Sanders cared about what they thought of him.
While Sanders was/is the most talked-about prospect in this entire class, that issue unfortunately has compounded. Sanders is now being talked about even more, and the team that ends up selecting him will have to answer questions about why he fell to Day 3.
Sanders is clearly not falling due to a lack of talent. You’d struggle to find a draft evaluator that had Oregon’s Dillon Gabriel over Sanders. But the bottom line is that it would appear Sanders did not give the pre-draft process the respect it deserved.
