Reactions to Shedeur Sanders’ NFL Draft slide: Tom Brady, Malik Nabers give their takes

The story of the NFL Draft this year was Colorado quarterback Shedeur Sanders. From his projection as a top prospect, to his “attitude” during interviews, to his Hall of Fame father’s pull in the league, to finally, his slide in the draft all the way to the fifth round, Sanders has been talked about so much that No. 1 pick Cam Ward has barely been mentioned.

And across the league, there have been some strong opinions on Sanders’ draft slide. He was selected 144th overall by the Cleveland Browns, who chose quarterback Dillon Gabriel before him in the third round.

Brady and Nabers on Sanders Draft slide

There have been very few NFL experts, teams, coaches, and players (former and current) who haven’t spoken about the Shedeur Sanders drama. Two of note who gave their thoughts recently are NFL legend Tom Brady and last year’s 6th overall pick, New York Giants wide receiver Malik Nabers.

If you’ll recall, Brady was not picked in the 2000 NFL Draft until the 6th round, and he went on to become pretty good. Unlike Sanders, however, Brady was never projected to be a first-round pick, so his selection wasn’t shocking until after he became a legend who won seven Super Bowls. In 2000, no one batted an eye.

On the final day of the draft when Sanders was selected, Brady was watching with former player and current media personality Michael Strahan, who revealed a bit of what Brady had to say about the whole thing.

“I spent time with Tom Brady this past weekend and we watched the draft, and as Tom said, ‘He’s an example, it doesn’t matter when you’re picked,’” Strahan said on “Good Morning America.”

Brady, who is close with the Sanders family, is a perfect example of the the insignificance of ones’ place in the draft. Still, it’s interesting that the Las Vegas Raiders, a team which Brady partially owns, passed on Sanders seven times. He has yet to comment on that.

Nabers was among those completely shocked to see Sanders’ fall and gave his thoughts during an episode of the “7PM in Brooklyn” podcast with NBA’s Carmelo Anthony.

“You don’t do that to a person. You don’t do that to somebody like that. You can’t knock his talent,” Nabers said of Sanders, who was the most accurate passer in college football last season. “I heard a lot of things about, you know, he takes unnecessary sacks. I mean he had a bad [offensive] line. He threw with a [70% completion percentage] with a bad [offensive] line."

“He did what he did at Jackson State, brought a lot of people to Jackson State that never knew about Jackson State,” Nabers said. “Then went to Colorado where nobody was even looking at Colorado like that. They have all these people look at him play and do what he did and then do him like that? Like, come on bro.”

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