When the order for the 2025 NFL Draft was set, with three quarterback-needy teams, the Tennessee Titans, Cleveland Browns, and New York Giants at the top, it seemed to be a lock that Colorado quarterback Shedeur Sanders would come off the board early in the first round. Eventually, the Titans locked in on Miami QB Cam Ward, and the Cleveland Browns swung a blockbuster trade with the Jaguars on draft night to slide down to No. 5, but the New York Giants didn’t just pass on Sanders once; they did it twice.
After that group triumvirate at the top, the Steelers at pick No. 21 were the next team desperate to add a quarterback, but even after a promising meeting with head coach Mike Tomlin, Pittsburgh left Sanders on the board. The only hope for Sanders, at his draft party in Texas, was a team to trade back into the first round, and the Giants, after selecting Penn State defensive end Abdul Carter third overall did, giving the Houston Texans this year’s second and two third-rounders to get back on the clock at No. 25.
Then, head coach Brian Daboll and general manager Joe Schoen went in a different direction, selecting Ole Miss QB Jaxson Dart. With the entire regime on the hot seat heading into the season, Daboll and Schoen desperately wanted to leave night one of the draft with a young QB to hopefully save their jobs, and they decided to put their eggs in Dart’s basket. The Giants passed on Sanders twice, and now we might know why.
Todd McShay says Giants were out on Shedeur Sanders after pre-draft meeting
“Shedeur’s not in play with the New York Giants, as far as I’m told,” former ESPN NFL draft analyst Todd McShay said on The McShay Show, his new podcast with The Ringer, ahead of the first round on Thursday night.
“Shedeur didn’t have a great interview with Brian Daboll in a private visit,” McShay continued. “An install package came in. Preparation wasn’t there for it. Got called out on it, didn’t like that. Brian didn’t appreciate him not liking it.”
McShay went on to tell about how Sanders had two different interviews with teams drafting in the top 10 at the Scouting Combine that “did not go well.” Now, Sanders sits atop the NFL Draft board heading into Round 2 with the Browns holding two of the first four picks and Cleveland as his most likely destination.
Even beyond a poor meeting that evidently took Sanders off the board for Daboll and the Giants organization, maybe it shouldn’t be a surprise that the former offensive coordinator of the Buffalo Bills favored Dart at pick No. 25. Daboll earned his first head coaching job by developing Josh Allen into a superstar quarterback, and in Year 1 in New York, he led the Giants to the playoffs with Daniel Jones, another mobile, big-armed, physical passer.
Sanders, for all his gifts as an out-of-structure improviser and accuracy between the numbers, does not routinely drive the ball outside the numbers and lacks the athletic profile to be a threat in the run game. Dart, while he’s far from the reigning MVP in terms of arm strength and athleticism, is a much closer facsimile and a capable runner.
Daboll and Sanders were never a good fit on the football field, but according to McShay, Sanders’ poor meeting with the Giants’ head coach sealed his fate as a second-round pick, and if Cleveland is content to wait until the 2026 NFL Draft to address its quarterback situation with the additional ammo it picked up from Jacksonville on Thursday, then Sanders could continue to slide well into Day 2.