On Wednesday, Travis and Jason Kelce broke down Shedeur Sanders sliding for the fifth round in the 2025 NFL Draft on the most recent episode of their New Heights podcast.
Sanders’ draft slide has received mixed reactions from media members. Some have publicly shared their opinion that Sanders should have been drafted far sooner, while others understood why teams were somewhat skeptical about taking a chance on Sanders.
The most common explanation for Sanders’ slide was the reports that emerged before the draft, indicating that Sanders didn’t exactly impress during pre-draft meetings with teams.
This is where Travis and Jason Kelce took issue with things, because none of the reports came from any front office member who publicly identified himself. Instead, all of the reports came from sources who chose to remain anonymous.
“I think whoever’s the f****** anonymous person that’s f****** saying this should f****** come out and say who they were,” said Travis Kelce. Like, what the f*** is that about?” Kelce said on the latest “New Heights” podcast. “Like, if you’re going to f****** leak that type of s***, f****** be the one that says, ‘Yeah, it just didn’t go well for us.’ Don’t f****** say we’re anonymous, ya know? That’s so f****** lame. I just feel like there’s no validity to it. I’m not sure why he dropped. I’m not sure if it was the interviews or whether it was stuff they saw on film.
“What I saw on film, I thought he was a way higher pick. And I think that’s all that should matter. It doesn’t seem like he’s a terrible person. It just seems like he is a motivated football player that is a part of a big football family. Him and his father have kinda taken over NCAA football for the last three to four years. Whether that is something that NFL teams didn’t want to deal with… I think this is gonna be such a fresh start for him. I could see him working his ass off and becoming the starting quarterback there in Cleveland.”
Jason Kelce similarly echoed his brother’s sentiments, calling the reports about Sanders’ character concerns “overblown”. However, he does believe that teams did have concerns about his on-field ability, which was the real culprit in his draft slide.
“Personally, I think a lot of these interviews went poorly. Or the off the field antics between Deion (Sanders) and whatever media stuff Shedeur has got going on. I think all of that is getting blown way out of proportion as a factor for this. I think the reality of me, the way I look at it is it’s hard to find a great quarterback in this league. If these teams really felt Shedeur Sanders was a first round talent, they would have picked him. You mean to tell me if Mike Vick had the same off-field stuff happening and had Michael Vick’s exact talent, he wouldn’t be picked in the first round? Of course he would have.
“Teams said on draft day that they don’t think Shedeur Sanders’ potential warrants being drafted that high. For whatever reason that is. I don’t know why that is. I barely watched Shedeur Sanders. But there are too many players with character issues, with concerns every year coming out about criminal behavior, off-field antics, and other things that get drafted in the first round. And they get drafted in the first round because they are ballers and the NFL wants great players. The fact that he got drafted at 144, in the fifth round, tells me that the off-field stuff maybe mattered a little bit. But the bottom line is, teams do not think Shedeur Sanders’ potential at the next level is high enough to warrant an earlier pick.”
Both Travis and Jason Kelce were drafted in the NFL, going in the third and sixth rounds, respectively, and went on to have great careers. So, there is certainly a chance that Sanders can do the same thing.