The New York Giants were long pegged as a team that would be in the first-round mix to select a quarterback in the 2025 NFL Draft, and the connection between Big Blue and former Colorado star Shedeur Sanders was an ongoing storyline throughout draft season.
Sanders and star receiver Malik Nabers were even seen playing catch in New York city ahead of the 2024 Heisman Trophy presentation.
So, yeah, the chatter surrounding Sanders and the Giants as a potential landing spot continued to grow louder.
As a result, when Big Blue traded back into the first round, there was a knee-jerk reaction assuming they were the club that was going to stop Sanders’ first-round slide.
Nope. The Giants did select a quarterback, but it was Ole Miss stud, Jaxson Dart.
Sanders’ slide continued… and continued… and continued.
It wasn’t until the fifth round that the Cleveland Browns called Shedeur’s name and ended his now-infamous fall.
There’s validity in the argument that Sanders’ on-field talent warranted a Day-3 selection, but that wasn’t the overwhelming opinion among analysts on draft weekend. Instead, his slide was more about how he handled the draft process.
According to Pro Football Talk’s Mike Florio, Sanders treated the run-up to the 2025 draft like he was on the recruiting trail instead of interviewing for a job.
Florio reported last month that an anonymous general manager provided intel that Sanders bombed his meetings with teams.
“Sanders, in the assessment of the General Manager, treated the pre-draft process as if he was being “recruited,” not as if he was being “interviewed,”” Florio wrote.
Sports Illustrated’s Albert Breer provided more context on Sanders’ 2025 Scouting Combine meeting with the New York Giants.
“The Giants one … they give players an install, and there are mistakes intentionally put in the install,” Breer said. “He didn’t catch them and got called on it, and it didn’t go well after that … He was pissed that they did that to him.”
Breer continued:
“He throws a bad interception. It was a deep throw early in the game,” Breer said. “They go in the meeting, they show the interception and they say, ‘What happened here?’ (Sanders responds,) ‘Well, I like to get into a rhythm earlier in the game.’
“They get into it over that, and his conclusion is, ‘Well, maybe I’m not a fit for you…’ The person who told me that story was like, ‘I’ve never heard that before.’ It was in a combine interview when you’re just going from team to team trying to put your best foot forward.”
First impressions, as they say, are lasting impressions. Shedeur Sanders didn’t make a good one on the Giants, and, assuming he conducted himself in that same manner during most of his pre-draft interviews, it’s no wonder he lasted as long as he did on draft weekend.
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