ESPN/NFL
University of Colorado quarterback — but perhaps more relevant to the events of Thursday night’s NFL Draft, Deion Sanders’ son — Shedeur Sanders was the talk of the NFL world on Thursday night, but not for a positive reason, as he was not selected in the first round (despite his father’s insistence he’d be a top five pick).
While Shedeur Sanders was undeniably the biggest story of the first round of the 2025 NFL Draft, NFL fans still felt that ESPN’s, particularly Mel Kiper’s, coverage of him was disrespectful to other players, as their moments were being talked over with Shedeur analysis.
On Friday ahead of the second and third rounds — the draft resumes at 7 p.m. EST — a video showcasing Mel Kiper Jr. discussing Sanders for NINE minutes of airtime (yes, the draft is way too long, but that’s A LOT) went viral, claiming to not even include everything Kiper said about Deion’s son.
Mel Kiper was angry last night
instead of celebrating 32 kids seeing their dreams fulfilled… he tried to turn the whole production into a show about Shedeur Sanders not getting selected
here’s 9 minutes of Mel’s agenda taking over the night (and this wasn’t even everything) pic.twitter.com/CxCkvlHeH7
— Warren Sharp (@SharpFootball) April 25, 2025
The NFL world at large certainly seemed to notice Kiper’s inordinate coverage and praise of Sanders, as a handful of viral memes at Kiper’s expense went viral.
*now have Mel Kiper hype up Shedeur Sanders again* pic.twitter.com/EDk08QCqAO
— Dylan Holt (@DylanHolt_) April 25, 2025
Mel Kiper to Shedeur Sanders… pic.twitter.com/kZPd84G7aP
— NFL Memes (@NFL_Memes) April 25, 2025
Mel Kiper with every pick to get Shedeur Sanders drafted pic.twitter.com/nPnSEI1IY4
— Molly (@FSUmollz) April 25, 2025
“Mel Kiper seems to be personally offended that Shedeur Sanders hasn’t been drafted yet,” tweeted Mike Florio of ProFootballTalk.
“The fact that Mel Kiper’s evaluation of Shedeur Sanders was demonstrably way off compared to the NFL’s evaluation of him shouldn’t be story 1A or 1B every time a different player gets drafted. This has been an insane way to frame this draft, in my opinion,” added FS1’s Nick Wright.
“Mel Kiper is about to have an aneurysm on live tv because everyone knows Shedeur Sanders isn’t an NFL QB except for him.”
“Mel Kiper losing his mind that people don’t like Shedeur Sanders is the best part of this draft.”
Heading into rounds two and three of the draft, teams that have been floated as potential landing spots for Sanders are the Cleveland Browns and Las Vegas Raiders. Should he keep falling, however, there’s the potential a team then finds value in him and decides to trade up (or back into the second round) to grab him.
Rest assured, whatever happens with Shedeur at the draft on Friday night, Mel will be all over it.