As Shedeur Sanders stunningly plummeted down the 2025 NFL draft board, there was a belief among some pundits that the league had unfairly evaluated the former Colorado Buffaloes star. But Pro Football Hall of Famer Cris Carter disagrees.
Carter believes Sanders cost himself millions and only has himself to blame for his fall to the fifth round of the NFL draft.
"You're going for a job interview," Carter said during an episode of the Fully Loaded podcast that was released Monday. "So for his job interview, he was so concerned about what his outfit was, his necklace was over a hundred grand. Like, he hadn't even convinced people that you're the face of our franchise.
"Matter of fact, he had convinced people that they were better off going in a different direction even with people who had lesser talent. That's the rub he put onto people...He threw away at least 30 to 50 million dollars."
So, where does Carter think it all went wrong for Sanders?
"...But Shedeur and his family, they overplayed their hand," Carter said. "Them thinking that he was in the same evaluation mode as Eli Manning, they didn't play that right. Them trying to narrow the teams that he was going to go to, that didn't do right.
"Not working out at the combine, that wasn't the right thing. His interview process—obviously he could have done a lot better in that. A lot of people left that meeting and felt he was very, very entitled."
Last May during an appearance on the Million Dollaz Worth of Game podcast, Shedeur's father and Pro Football Hall of Famer Deion Sanders suggested that his son or then-Colorado teammate Travis Hunter would refuse to play for a certain team if said franchise was an undesirable landing spot. Carter feels that such an assertion from the elder Sanders, as well as the fact that Shedeur Sanders seemed to rub people the wrong way during meetings and interviews, damaged his stock in the draft.
And Carter believes the NFL taught Sanders a "lesson" he won't soon forget.
"Let me tell you what he understands today," Carter said. "He ain't running s---. Okay? Let me tell you what, they taught him a great lesson. You don't have this figured out. Your dad don't have this figured out."
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as NFL Hall of Famer Blasts Shedeur Sanders for Costing Himself Millions.
