Noted Draft Analyst Reveals What May Have Turned Giants Off on Shedeur Sanders

Sanders's pre-draft process allegedly soured the Giants and possibly other teams on him as a prospect.

Apr 19, 2025; Boulder, CO, USA; Colorado Buffaloes former player Shedeur Sanders before the spring game at Folsom Field. / Isaiah J. Downing-Imagn Images

New York Giants head coach Brian Daboll and general manager Joe Schoen declined to respond to a question about an alleged report claiming that former Colorado quarterback Shedeur Sanders didn’t interview well with them during one of their meetings, Daboll only saying that all his meetings with the quarterback prospects went well. 

However, former ESPN draft analyst Todd McShay, now with The Ringer and running his own draft media service, claimed that the team’s meeting with Sanders did not go well.

McShay reported that Sanders didn’t have successful meetings with many other teams, leading to the signal caller, once touted as a top-three draft prospect, sliding down to the fifth round. 

“Shedeur didn’t have a great interview with Brian Daboll in a private visit,” McShay claimed. 

“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.”

CBS Sports insider Jonathan Jones also reported on a series of missteps that Sanders took on his way to the NFL, starting with the young man’s father/head coach Deion Sanders promising to “pull an Eli” (force a trade) if a team that he didn’t think would be a good fit for his son tried to draft him.

Sanders also decided not to participate in the Shrine Bowl practices or work out at the combine, which wasn’t a big deal in itself. 

According to Jones, it was a big deal that during some of the combine meetings with teams that maybe weren’t desirable destinations, Sanders “more or less sand-bagged those interviews” and “rubbed some teams the wrong way.”

Sanders eventually went to the Cleveland Browns two rounds after Cleveland selected Oregon quarterback Dillon Gabriel, who wasn’t as highly touted as a prospect. 

The Giants, meanwhile, traded back into the bottom of the first round for Ole Miss quarterback Jaxson Dart.

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