It has been a year since the 2025 NFL draft, but Shedeur Sanders’ draft fall still needs to be studied. No one predicted Shedeur would fall to the fifth round and to Cleveland. Despite many folks having him going anywhere from a top-three overall pick to a first-rounder at worst, fate had other plans. Slipping all the way to the fifth round felt inhumane. Looking back, Shedeur’s older brother, Deion Sanders Jr., calls it a “blessing.”

Deion Jr. recently made an appearance on Flexavelli’s ‘Lessons & Blessings’ podcast and opened up about the deep emotional pain of watching his brother slide.

“Dang, I thought I was only going to pay for this hotel for one day. But then he didn’t get drafted that day. He didn’t get drafted the next day. Then it’s like, I don’t know, I was just feeling pain for him,” Deion Jr. said.

While they waited, NFL insiders leaked that front offices were backing away due to Shedeur’s habit of holding the ball too long and his so-called ‘B-‘ arm strength.

The Sanders family had the party ready and the live streams rolling, only for the room to turn heavy as the rounds flew by. Deion Jr. recalled his heart hurting for his younger brother, thinking, “Damn… this ain’t right. This sucks.” It turned out, according to an ESPN post-draft report, that teams were deeply spooked by the media circus and the strict list of teams the Sanders camp tried to dictate.

Internally, Deion Jr. fought a silent mental battle to stay strong for the social media cameras while feeling completely powerless inside. Leaning on faith, Deion Jr. faced new leaks that scouts claimed Shedeur blamed his O-line in interviews. On Day 2, a coach’s son impersonated an NFL GM, deepening the family’s anguish. It made a painful situation exponentially worse on a global stage, but Deion Jr. says the haters’ plan backfired.

Despite online conspiracy theories, Deion Jr. rejected foul-play narratives, trusting God’s plan instead. He traded his bitterness for the peace that everything happens for a reason. He offered a pretty nice perspective which a lot of people overlook: “You know what I’m saying? You never know, something might not have happened, you never know it’s just, but like you said, the glory to God, man, because it’s just a blessing, bro.”

At pick 144, the Cleveland Browns signed Shedeur to a four-year, $4.6 million rookie deal. Ultimately, the family frames the humiliation as a “glory to God” turning point that gave them a competitive chip on their shoulder. Deion Jr. believes the draft night slip didn’t break Shedeur. But rather gave him the perfect fuel for his NFL journey. Privately, Deion Sanders faced a worse battle: an aggressive bladder tumor. Days later, surgery changed everything, giving Coach Prime a profound new perspective.

Deion Sanders called the future

Last year, Deion Sanders spoke about how difficult Shedeur Sanders’ draft slide was for him. During a podcast with former NFL cornerback Asante Samuel, Sanders defended his son against criticism and rumors that surfaced during the draft process.

“When you sit up there and say something like he went into a meeting unprepared, like, dude, Shedeur Sanders, who’s had six different coordinators?” Sanders said. He also dismissed rumors that Shedeur wore headphones during team meetings, saying, “Anybody know my son understands he’s a professional. Like he’s gonna go into a meeting with headphones on?”

Sanders believed people were unfairly creating stories about his son. “They want to create these narratives and create these stories and then attach them to a kid that ain’t never done nothing wrong,” he said. He later admitted that all the criticism and rumors took a toll on him emotionally.

“It did hurt,” Sanders said. “It did hurt.”

Shedeur Sanders isn’t the first player to face a highly publicized draft heartbreak. In NFL history, legendary sliders like Aaron Rodgers, pushed all the way to pick 24 behind Alex Smith and Patrick Mahomes, taken 10th after Mitch Trubisky, proved that a dramatic slide doesn’t define a legacy. It just delays it. Shedeur Sanders is now pushing DeShaun Watson for the starting job after the latter missed 2025. Coach Monken hasn’t named a starter yet, as we wait to see how things pan out for Deion’s son.