ESPN’s Mel Kiper MELTS DOWN After Shedeur Sanders Gets Drafted Late: ‘The NFL Has Been Clueless for 50 Years!’
ESPN analyst Mel Kiper blasted the NFL after Colorado quarterback Shedeur Sanders fell to No. 144 overall in the 2025 NFL Draft on Saturday afternoon.
Kiper, who was apoplectic Thursday and Friday after the 23-year-old , had projected Sanders to be selected by the New Orleans Saints in the top 10.
His anger was not alleviated after the Cleveland Browns finally threw Sanders a lifeline Saturday; he called the NFL “clueless” in its evaluation of quarterbacks while arguing with his ESPN colleagues.
After Sanders was selected, Kiper got into a heated discussion with fellow analyst Louis Riddick regarding the quarterback’s slide.
“This is not about, ‘Can you play the position?’ This is about, ‘Do we want you to play the position for us?'” Riddick said when asked by Kiper why Sanders had not been selected earlier.
When Kiper pressed further, Riddick replied, “That’s a whole ‘nother discussion that we’ve had in many different ways for weeks and months now.”
Kiper fired back, “Is he not one of the toughest quarterbacks you’ve ever seen?”
Rece Davis advised Kiper to accept that Sanders fell to where he did and that the player would adapt.
“That’s the key, Mel. It’s not putting a value judgment on who passed were right or wrong. They did,” Davis said. “Whether you like them, whether you don’t like them, whether they’re fair or whether they’re unfair, you might have to deal with them.”
Davis added that Sanders was in a prime position to prove himself in the league.
“The NFL has been clueless for 50 years when it comes to evaluating quarterbacks!” Kiper replied. “Clueless! They have no idea what they’re doing in terms of evaluating quarterbacks, there’s proof of that!”
Kiper concluded, “The NFL gets it, they know everything. No, they don’t!”
Sanders was expected by most analysts to be taken in the first round, but his name was not called until late Saturday afternoon in the fifth.
Watch above via ESPN.
