Mel Kiper, Jr., Mario Cristobal spar over Cam Ward-Shedeur Sanders draft controversy

ESPN’s Mel Kiper, Jr. spent much of the 2025 NFL draft talking about quarterback Shedeur Sanders, especially as the Colorado product continued to fall down the board until he was eventually selected in the fifth round by the Cleveland Browns.

One person Kiper didn’t appear to discuss very often was quarterback Cam Ward, the No. 1 pick in the draft.

On Wednesday, Miami Hurricanes head coach Mario Cristobal appeared to take a shot at Kiper when discussing Ward at the ACC spring meetings.

According to Action Network’s Brett McMurphy, Cristobal said that while he spoke “to a million people” and that he couldn’t “recall many NFL teams or TV people I didn’t speak to,”  he never heard from Kiper.

“Never heard from him,” said Cristobal. “I don’t think I’ve ever talked to him.”

McMurphy added that Cristobal wasn’t disappointed about that and only would have been if Ward was bothered by it, which he wasn’t.

Many criticized Kiper for his overzealous commentary about Sanders, which was often seen as coming at the expense of other quarterbacks who were selected much higher.

Things got weird enough that ESPN draft host Rece Davis rebuffed Kiper’s “unproductive” chastising of the NFL after Sanders was finally selected.

Kiper caught wind of Crisotbal’s comments on Wednesday and fired back, saying that he had Ward ranked higher than other draft experts.

“Mario Cristobal claims he spoke to a million people about Cam Ward, yet the one he didn’t speak to, being me, had Ward ranked higher (6th on my Big Board) than any of the other draft experts. Interesting isn’t it,” wrote Kiper on X. “And oh by the way, I didn’t speak to Deion about Shedeur either.”

For Mel’s sake, you have to hope Sanders has a stellar NFL career. If not, Kiper is never going to hear the end of it.