2025 NFL Draft: Former NFL player believes Shedeur Sanders’ camp hopes that these teams don’t select him

Every year there’s at least one NFL Draft prospect who is polarizing enough to have the pre-draft news cycle in a chokehold. This year, that title belongs to Colorado quarterback Shedeur Sanders. 

While he is CBS Sports’ No. 2 ranked quarterback prospect, where he’ll ultimately land in the draft is up for debate. With Miami signal-caller Cam Ward earmarked to be the No. 1 overall pick to the Tennessee Titans, all eyes will then shift to Sanders, who could come off the board as soon as No. 2 overall to the Cleveland Browns or fall into the back end of the first, judging by the array of mock draft projections.

Of course, most prospects are tight-lipped when it comes to where they are rooting to be selected, but in the case of Sanders, we may be getting some insight into what his camp hopes will happen on draft night. Former NFL safety and current ESPN analyst Louis Riddick, who played with Deion Sanders and remains close with the family, noted that he believes folks in Sanders’ “inner circle” hope that he falls outside of the top three, meaning that he’s not selected by the Browns or the New York Giants. 

“Shedeur is someone that wants to be collaborative,” Riddick said on First Take, via Cleveland.com. “He’s someone that you want to talk with. He doesn’t like to be told, ‘This is the way we’re going to do things, and you’re just going to need to fall in line.’ He’s earned that right because of the way he’s played. And this young man is going to be just fine. And you know what? I hope he doesn’t go in the top three picks. I hope he doesn’t. And I think his camp would tell you the same thing. There are other teams they want to go to.” 

When Cleveland.com reached out to Riddick to expand on his comments, he said, “In some respects, there are other teams that I hope he goes to, that I think would be good fits for him. I do feel that way. I do feel like him going to a place like New Orleans or going to a place like Pittsburgh or Las Vegas, I think they would be very good fits for him.”

If Sanders were to fall out of the top three, the Las Vegas Raiders (No. 6 overall), New Orleans Saints (No. 9 overall), and even the Pittsburgh Steelers (No. 21 overall) are some logical destinations that Riddick points out. Meanwhile, in his latest three-round mock draft, CBS Sports’ Mike Renner has Sanders falling to Pittsburgh at No. 21.