The Shedeur Sanders saga was still unresolved entering the NFL draft's third day and the intrigue yielded a massive ratings bump for the made-for-television event. Per Pro Football Talk's Mike Florio, Saturday's coverage averaged 4.3 million viewers across all platforms, a 43% percent jump over last year's final day.
This was the continuation of ratings increases on Thursday (up 11%) and Friday (up 48%), which combined helped the 2025 NFL draft in Green Bay far outpace its 2024 predecessor from Detroit.
None of this should be a surprise at all as Sanders, one of the most controversial and discussed prospects in many years, found himself in a virtually unprecedented free-fall that dominated the broadcast. It's hard to imagine the draft being able to match this edition's enormous ratings unless something else bizarre occurs to a marquee name. And even then, odds are that the player in question will not serve as nearly the lightning rod Sanders has become.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Shedeur Sanders's Slide Led to Major Ratings Increase for Third Day of NFL Draft.
