Shedeur Sanders Sparks Controversy After Mysterious No-Show at High-Profile Event

It’s funny how a single missed meeting can ripple into a saga that alters a player’s entire draft narrative. Cleveland Browns’ quarterback Shedeur Sanders, once touted as a top-five pick, took an unexpected nosedive to the fifth round in 2025—and now we’re learning this wasn’t exactly an overnight fiasco. Football analyst Ross Tucker’s tale from Sanders’ Colorado days—where the QB simply skipped a production meeting without a word—paints a more complex picture of a player whose off-field decisions might have echoed louder than his arm strength. Was this a case of youthful missteps snowballing into draft day disappointment, or something deeper? Either way, it makes you wonder: when the stakes are so high, how much does handling the little things matter? And hey, while all this drama unfolds, Sanders’ merch is flying off shelves—proof that hype and reality often chart different courses. Let’s dig deeper. LEARN MORE.

Cleveland Browns quarterback Shedeur Sanders was criticized a lot for his approach to the 2025 NFL Draft even before his now-infamous slide. But one insider pointed out that his behavior dates all the way back to his college days.

Appearing on the Dan Patrick Show, football analyst Ross Tucker recalled a story about Shedeur that goes back to when he was playing for Colorado. He said that prior to a game between Colorado and in-state rival Colorado State, Sanders flat-out skipped the production meeting.

Tucker explained that Sanders had been scheduled to meet with him for a CBS production meeting on Thursday, but was banged up from a prior game and had it pushed to Friday. Yet on Friday, Sanders was a no-show and did not provide an explanation. 

Tucker said that he later saw Sanders simply sitting around at a pickup truck. He said he was tempted to ask Sanders why but let it go. Tucker said it was the first time something like this had ever happened to him.

.@RossTuckerNFL recounts a story about Shedeur Sanders skipping the production meeting ahead of Colorado vs. Colorado State. pic.twitter.com/v5qTwEdu1l

— Dan Patrick Show (@dpshow) April 30, 2025

It’s obviously not a good look for anyone to skip scheduled meetings, especially without giving a good explanation. 

While this skipped meeting may just be one small incident that shouldn’t weigh down on Sanders on its own, it’s the accumulation of issues that likely led to the slide.

Each new revelation about how Sanders handled himself both in college and during the pre-draft process paints a worse and worse picture of his appeal to NFL teams.

Ultimately, he went from being a potential top-five pick and a consensus first- or second-round pick to falling all the way to the 144th pick in the fifth round.

His fall in the draft hasn’t stopped people from buying his merchandise though. He reportedly has sold out all of his official NFL merchandise options – not bad for a fifth-round draft pick.

As we’ve said many times before, the best we can hope for from Sanders is that he’s able to use the this situation to his advantage. If he can play well and become the quarterback he’s said he is, we’ll happily eat crow later.

Related: NFL Fans React To Punishment For Falcons, Shedeur Sanders Draft Prank