Former University of Colorado Boulder star quarterback Shedeur Sanders was among the top players at his position in the nation in the 2024 collegiate season, but where he was selected in the 2025 NFL Draft doesn’t necessarily reflect that.
Sanders had to wait until the third and final day of the draft to finally hear his name called, as the Cleveland Browns drafted him with the No. 144 overall pick in the fifth round.
Legendary superstar New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady recently weighed in on Sanders falling in the draft in a podcast appearance with Logan Paul and revealed that he sent the youngster a motivating text about his draft slide.
“I actually texted Shedeur because I know him very well,” Brady said. “And I said, ‘Dude, whatever happens, wherever you go, that’s your first day. Day two matters more than the draft.’ I was 199, so, who could speak on it better than me? What that really means. Use it as motivation. You’re going to get your chances, go take advantage of it.”
Like Sanders, Brady was also a late NFL draft pick. The Patriots selected him in the sixth round back in the 2000 NFL Draft, and he retired from the league earlier this decade as perhaps the greatest football player in the history of the sport.
He’s the all-time leader in career completed passes, passing yards and passing touchdowns. Beyond that, he was the consummate winner, as he won seven Super Bowls over the course of his career, six of which came during his lengthy stint in New England.
It’s safe to claim that if Sanders enjoys even a fraction of the success that Brady did in the NFL, that would be quite the achievement.
Sanders is set to compete for significant playing time with Cleveland in the 2025 season after he finished his two-season stint at the collegiate level as the all-time leader in completion percentage. He completed 71.8 percent of his passes across 24 total games played with the Buffaloes.
He also led his conference in several passing stats in his second and final campaign with the team and was named the Big 12 Offensive Player of the Year.
While Sanders was passed up on plenty of times in the 2025 NFL Draft, the best quarterback in NFL history is seemingly high on him as a player and person, and that alone should have the 23-year-old confident that he has what it takes to be a highly successful signal-caller in the league.
