Anyone following the ESPN broadcast of the 2025 NFL Draft knows full well who that network was rooting for. Led by lead draft analyst Mel Kiper, the entire four-hour draft coverage seemed to be a promo for Shedeur Sanders, son of NFL legend Deion Sanders.
However, despite their best efforts, ESPN failed to get Sanders drafted in the first round.
X users quickly posted gleeful memes and messages rejoicing and mocking the “four-letter network.”
ESPN when their ridiculous Shedeur Sanders media push didn’t work pic.twitter.com/NDe4NxJrHu
— Dino Spumoni (@bonesbilly04) April 25, 2025
Mel Kiper spent the first 5 minutes of the NFL Draft slobbering over Shedeur Sanders and comparing him to Tom Brady.
— Joe (@JoeA_NFL) April 25, 2025
That's totally absurd, imo. He's a downright bad prospect. pic.twitter.com/gLsiW60oXT
Mel Kiper seems to be personally offended that Shedeur Sanders hasn't been drafted yet.
— ProFootballTalk (@ProFootballTalk) April 25, 2025
I think ESPN thinks we care more about Shedeur Sanders than we actually do
— Chase Snyder (@ChasingSnyder) April 25, 2025
Mel Kiper Jr. explaining his Shedeur Sanders rants tonight… pic.twitter.com/DeHrRAO6Ra
— Trey Wallace (@TreyWallace_) April 25, 2025
*now have Mel Kiper hype up Shedeur Sanders again* pic.twitter.com/EDk08QCqAO
— Dylan Holt (@DylanHolt_) April 25, 2025
Cam Ward has been ignored for weeks, and now that he's about to be drafted, Mel Kiper is talking about Shedeur Sanders???
— ProFootballTalk (@ProFootballTalk) April 25, 2025
Mel Kiper after every pick in the 1st Round because it doesn’t involve Shedeur Sanders pic.twitter.com/zjGl2WiFxz
— Cutter Whitley (@iamcutterbutter) April 25, 2025
Others were happy to see Sanders slide into the second round on general principle.
Sesame Street was brought to you today by Shedeur Sanders and the number two … pic.twitter.com/FoIAjh4A7K
— Super 70s Sports (@Super70sSports) April 25, 2025
Shedeur Sanders will use teams passing on him as fuel to become the next Mac Jones.
— Barry (@BarryOnHere) April 25, 2025
What about tomorrow https://t.co/qYC5K7Ye6h
— The Football Grump (@football_grump) April 24, 2025
Weird stat: Shedeur Sanders is 1st player in college football history to have his number retired & not be selected 5 days later in NFL Draft's 1st round
— Brett McMurphy (@Brett_McMurphy) April 25, 2025
Shedeur Sanders every time a name is called pic.twitter.com/nwJY9J4FDx
— ¹⁰ (@HoodiGarland) April 25, 2025
Shedeur Sanders built a custom draft room to hold a draft party last night.
— Vince Langman (@LangmanVince) April 25, 2025
This gives you a better understanding as to why he didn't get drafted in the first round last night
pic.twitter.com/FoAyuDc4dP
Shedeur Sanders… pic.twitter.com/X5llrulOo3
— NFL Memes (@NFL_Memes) April 25, 2025
Shedeur Sanders hate watch continues pic.twitter.com/Lj6H5I8phj
— the wheel (real) 2 (@thewheelreal2) April 25, 2025
Shedeur Sanders FINALLY off the board pic.twitter.com/mTqp4tWETP
— NFL Memes (@NFL_Memes) April 25, 2025
Shedeur Sanders not being drafted in the first round was a win for America
— Courtney McKinney (@CourtAnne1225) April 25, 2025
Shedeur Sanders right now watching his name not get called pic.twitter.com/Pp6QLEZl0e
— June (@HoodieBrunson) April 25, 2025
This just in: Colorado has un-retired Shedeur Sanders' fraudulently retired jersey number
— Brian Webber (@bwwebber) April 25, 2025
Every NFl owner and front office looking at shedeur sanders the last 3 hours pic.twitter.com/isNmJJcCGJ
— John (@iam_johnw) April 25, 2025
Others were enraged that Sanders didn’t get drafted in the first round, with some even calling it racist.
Giants just took Jaxson dart over shedeur sanders .. they’re never beating the black qb allegations pic.twitter.com/etIDfrOgxj
— John (@iam_johnw) April 25, 2025
If somebody tells you Shedeur Sanders doesn’t do anything special, just know they are full of it and haven’t watched his tape. That’s just pure hate and hopping on a narrative tearing him down for clicks. So tired of hearing it. pic.twitter.com/3qvPKKgi9Z
— Robert Griffin III (@RGIII) April 25, 2025
was shedeur sanders reciting mein kampf in those pre-draft interviews
— brandon* (@brndxix) April 25, 2025
I'm not a Shedeur Sanders fan but what just happened is straight up racism bro
— John Baione (@KINGV0NBURNER) April 25, 2025
SHEDEUR SANDERS IS SO MUCH BETTER THAN JAXSON DART. THIS IS JUST LAUGHABLY SAD.
— Skip Bayless (@RealSkipBayless) April 25, 2025
We really watched a successful smear campaign against Shedeur Sanders be executed in less than a week. pic.twitter.com/XP8qkMnGFT
— Quin (@QuinThomasx) April 25, 2025
The media coverage of Shedeur Sanders has felt extremely purposeful & personal. The anonymous quotes that have circulated are mostly negative. Which is strange. A young man that has never been in trouble, never involved in an off field incident, & quarterbacked two Universities… pic.twitter.com/MvNt1YOCa5
— Ryan Clark (@Realrclark25) April 24, 2025
Shedeur Sanders went from a Top 3 pick to not being drafted in the Top 10 in two weeks. No football games were even played.
— Mason (@1masontaylor) April 25, 2025
Bullshit.
The fact that we’re watching shedeur sanders get blackballed from the NFL in real time is nasty work
— John (@iam_johnw) April 25, 2025
However, amidst the fiery rhetoric, some took a humorous approach to explaining what may have caused teams to drop Sanders off their first-round draft boards.
Shedeur Sanders during the interview https://t.co/6ii7ze0hYp pic.twitter.com/C6hMJEZzfn
— Ahmed/The Ears/IG: BigBizTheGod 🇸🇴 (@big_business_) April 25, 2025
Shedeur Sanders must’ve been in the Pre-Draft Interviews like this pic.twitter.com/zosCoOuJIn
— The Hood Therapist (@OhhMar24) April 25, 2025
In reality, teams probably didn’t see Sanders as first-round value and passed on him. Having an overly involved father probably didn’t help his chances of getting drafted on the first night either.
Here’s the silver lining, though: Round 2 is loaded with teams that need quarterbacks. One very likely landing spot for Sanders is Las Vegas, where he can learn behind veteran Geno Smith and work on the things that kept him out of the first round.
