Rumored Giants-Shedeur Sanders confrontation erases blame from New York

The big story of the 2025 NFL Draft has been the continuing slide of Colorado quarterback Shedeur Sanders. Once projected as a potential Top 5 pick, Sanders is still waiting to hear his name called midway through the fourth round, a fall from grace that has had ESPN's Mel Kiper baffled and generated plenty of debate on social media.

One team that was linked to Sanders heavily during the pre-draft process was the New York Giants, who had Sanders come to East Rutherford (along with several other passers) the week before the draft for an in-person meeting.

That meeting, according to NFL insider Todd McShay, didn't go very well and may explain why Sanders is still awaiting his NFL home.

Shedeur Sanders' Tense Giants' Meeting May Explain His Draft Fall

In a clip posted on X by a user listening to his podcast, McShay explained that part of New York's process for the pre-draft meeting was to send Sanders a package of plays for him to study and break down in the meeting. That process is something fans saw documented when the Giants were featured on Hard Knocks: Offseason, with head coach Brian Daboll paying close attention to how prospects like Jayden Daniels and Caleb Williams retained information.

Sanders appeared not to have put enough effort into studying the package of plays New York provided, which Daboll then called Sanders out on. According to McShay's sources, Sanders did not take kindly to the criticism Daboll provided, which may have inspired the Giants to pivot to Jaxson Dart, who they traded back into the first round for on Thursday.

There were a lot of questions about Sanders' dedication to the pre-draft process, which saw him back out of a previous commitment to the Senior Bowl and decline to work out at the combine. Sanders said his college tape spoke for itself, but in the eyes of NFL teams, it clearly did not since Sanders is still available over 100 picks into the draft.

While there is no question Sanders' talent is worthy of being off the board already, his interview with the Giants may indicate he isn't putting the work in to get the most out of his talent. NBA star Kevin Durant has popularized the phrase that "hard work beats talent when talent doesn't work hard", and if NFL teams aren't convinced Sanders is as dedicated to getting the most out of his talent they are likely to use their picks on players who will be more bought into their program.

Teams at this stage of the draft aren't picking a quarterback to start, with Day 3 picks often beginning as backups who could develop into starters, so any team picking Sanders to be a backup would have to be comfortable with his desire to work hard and improve to the point where he can be a starter. Adding in the fact that Sanders' famous father Deion will likely weigh in if the starter ahead of Shedeur isn't performing well appears to have created a perfect storm for Sanders' precipitous fall.