Cleveland Browns rookie quarterback Shedeur Sanders underwent one of the most shocking draft slides the NFL has ever seen in the 2025 NFL draft. Despite being a top ten pick in nearly every mock draft from experts and fans alike, Sanders fell to the Browns in the fifth round.
Now, one Hall of Famer is alleging that the fall from grace for Sanders was due to no fault of his own, but rather because the NFL told teams not to select the quarterback.
“I tell you this much, what I heard from someone that’s in the NFL, that the NFL told [teams] don’t draft him, do not draft him,” Erik Dickerson said, according to the New York Post. “We’re going to make an example out of him. And this came from a very good source, a very good source.”
“I won’t say who — somebody called the Cleveland Browns and said, ‘Don’t do that, draft him,’” Dickerson continued. “Because they weren’t going to draft him, either. . . They were forced into drafting him, because somebody made a call to them.”
According to Dickerson, the league’s initial plan was for Sanders to go undrafted.
“He was not gonna get drafted, to basically show you this is what happens when you do this,” he said. “When I say it came from a good source, I say it came from a very, very good source.”
Fans reacted to the allegations on social media.
“Shedeur should sue the nfl for collusion and defamation. Is there a case for that lawyers?” one fan wrote on Twitter.
“We know. Nothing has ever been more obvious,” another fan added.
“I don’t know what is and isn’t true, but I know that many people who believe this scenario, adamantly deny that the league manipulates things like making sure Taylor’s team makes it to the SB. If one is true the other is likely true as well,” one fan added.
If this ends up being proven true, it would be one of the most concerning sports stories in history and a clear sign that the league requires new leadership.
About Qwame Skinner
Qwame Skinner has loved both writing and sports his entire life. In addition to his sports coverage at Comeback Media, Qwame writes novels, and his debut; The First Casualty, an adult fantasy, is out now.