Steelers Now
NFL insider Albert Breer of Sports Illustrated reveals why the Pittsburgh Steelers passed on quarterback Shedeur Sanders in the 2025 NFL Draft.
The Pittsburgh Steelers had several chances to select quarterback Shedeur Sanders in the 2025 NFL Draft and decided not to. NFL insider Albert Breer of Sports Illustrated revealed why that was the case.
“I think people there would tell you that the Russell Wilson thing undermined so many things in the last month of the season, and a lot of that building really wanted them to go back to Justin Fields,” Breer said on “The Bill Simmons” podcast. “It was something where [Mike] Tomlin was kind of, again, all on his own on that one, and I think that’s part of the reason why Tomlin liked Shedeur going into the draft. But I don’t think Tomlin wanted to press that button again at quarterback after what happened at the end of the year with Russell.”
Sanders did raise a lot of concerns for teams during the pre-draft process. He alienated several teams as he strongly believed he would be a top 10 pick, and the ones he did interview with reportedly didn’t go very well.
His father, Pro Football Hall of Famer Deion Sanders, was also not shy in expressing his opinion throughout the pre-draft process and could have had head coaches around the league looking over their shoulders as a potential future candidate himself.
The Steelers ultimately landed three players before Sanders went off the board: Defensive tackle Derrick Harmon in the first round (No. 21), running back Kaleb Johnson in the third round (No. 83) and outside linebacker Jack Sawyer in the fourth round (No. 123).
Pittsburgh will hope that decision will not come back to haunt it after the Cleveland Browns drafted Sanders with the No. 144 overall pick in the fifth round.
Sanders joins a quarterback room with Deshaun Watson, Kenny Pickett, Joe Flacco and Dillon Gabriel after throwing for 7,364 yards, 64 touchdowns and 13 interceptions over the past two seasons at Colorado.
This article originally appeared on Steelers Now: Insider Explains Why Steelers Passed on QB Shedeur Sanders in 2025 NFL Draft
