Tom Brady says he wasn't involved in Raiders' decision to pass on Shedeur Sanders
Shedeur Sanders fell to the fifth round of the 2025 NFL Draft. A certain sixth-round pick doesn't think that should discourage him.
Tom Brady, who was famously taken with the 199th pick of the 2000 NFL Draft before he became a seven-time Super Bowl champion, discussed the Colorado quarterback's situation in a video from "The Art of Dialogue" podcast posted Tuesday.
When asked for any insight on why Sanders fell, an area where there has been no shortage of speculation, Brady clarified that he had nothing to do with it, which is something you have to do when you are a minority owner of the Las Vegas Raiders and have been reported to be helping in the football operations department:
"It's a good question. I wasn't a part of any evaluation process or to see that.'
When a host interjected to note that professional opinion-haver Skip Bayless has claimed otherwise, Brady had some words for him:
'I know, well, everyone's got every — you know. That's the problem with media is everyone can just say whatever the f*** they want.'
Yahoo Sports' Charles Robinson has reported in the past that Brady has known Sanders since high school and has helped train and counsel him over the years, a relationship that exists thanks to Sanders' father, Deion.
However, rather than drafting his mentee, Brady's Raiders traded for Seattle Seahawks quarterback Geno Smith and gave him a two-year, $88 million extension. They still could've selected Sanders as a quarterback of the future — Smith is 34 years old — but they instead selected star running back Ashton Jeanty with the sixth overall pick and passed on Sanders with seven picks.
Sanders ended up going to the Cleveland Browns at No. 144 overall, and the Raiders are set to go into the 2025 season with Aidan O'Connell as their backup quarterback.
Shedeur Sanders has some work to do, just like Tom Brady once did. (AP Photo/George Walker IV, File)
In the podcast clip, Brady revealed that he texted Sanders after the draft with some encouragement, noting that he had plenty of success after being drafted a round later:
'I actually texted Shedeur because I know him very well, and I said, 'Dude, whatever happens, wherever you go, that's your first day. Day two matters more than the draft. I was [pick number] 199. Yeah. So, who could speak on it better than me, what that really means? Use it as motivation. You're gonna get your chances. Go take advantage of it.''
Where Brady's and Sanders' situations differ is that no one on the face of the earth thought Brady was going in the first round in 2000, while Sanders was widely expected to be taken in the top 10. Now, Sanders has to carve out a role in the most overcrowded QB room in the league — the Browns already had Deshaun Watson, Joe Flacco, Kenny Pickett and Dillon Gabriel, taken two rounds before Sanders — just to log some playing time.
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