Caught Up in the Draft

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Caught up in the Draft

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The 2025 NFL Draft was supposed to be a coming out party for the CU football program on the NFL stage. Shut out of the Draft for the past three seasons (for the first time in program history), CU was looking for its first picks in the first round since 2011, a coronation of Travis Hunter and Shedeur Sanders as Top Ten performers, and multiple picks in the Draft for the first time since 2017.

The Draft opened well for the Buffs, with Travis Hunter becoming the second CU player to ever be taken second overall.

After that, it became a drama of unexpected proportions. By noon on Saturday, it was looking possible that CU would have the second pick overall – then no additional picks in the next 255 selections.

Saturday afternoon, though, brought the Coach Prime, the CU football program, and the Buff Nation some measure of redemption, with the ability to hold their heads high going forward.

But it was certainly a wild ride getting there …

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Day One … Thursday … First Round … 

The stars align for Travis

There was little drama as to the No. 1 overall pick, with quarterback Cameron Ward going to the Tennessee Titans. The consensus had been that the Cleveland Browns were going to take Travis Hunter with pick No. 2.

A great honor to be the No. 2 overall pick in the NFL Draft … but Cleveland?

Instead, Browns traded the pick to the Jacksonville Jaguars, who were more than happy to take Hunter.

So Travis, who grew up in Georgia, is going to play in the state of Florida, with Trevor Lawrence as his quarterback. Nice weather for a wide receiver/cornerback to ply his trade.

And it’s not Cleveland.

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Meanwhile, a nightmare night for Shedeur

Shedeur Sanders, who was the No. 5 overall player in the final Mel Kiper Big Board, spent the first night of the draft waiting to hear his name called.

The problem: There were only a handful of teams looking for quarterbacks.

When the New York Giants took Penn State edge rusher Abdul Carter with the No. 3 pick overall, New Orleans at No. 8 became the next logical choice. But the Saints took Arizona wide receiver Tetairoa McMillen.

Barring a trade, Shedeur’s next best hope was at No. 21, with the Pittsburgh Steelers. Instead. Pittsburgh took Oregon’s defensive tackle Derrick Harmon.

At that point, barring a trade, it looked like Shedeur would fall out of the first round, giving Sanders haters plenty of fodder.

Then, it looked like Shedeur would get a lifeline.

Houston, which held the No. 25 pick, made a trade with the New York Giants. The Giants needed a quarterback, and had moved back into the first round for another pick.

And … the Giants got their quarterback.

But … instead of Shedeur getting the call, he got a gut punch, with New York taking quarterback Jaxson Dart from Ole Miss.

Not only was the first round over for Shedeur, but a team in need of a quarterback, and in prime position to give Shedeur his moment in the sun of the first round, chose another quarterback instead.

For his part, Shedeur tried to say the right things about the snub. In a video posted on social media by his brother, Deion Sanders Jr., Shedeur told family and friends gathered together for a draft party: “I don’t feel like this happened for no reason. All this is of course fuel to the fire. Under no circumstance, we all know this shouldn’t have happened, but we understand we’re onto bigger and better things. Tomorrow is the day. We’re gonna be happy regardless.”

And then … it got worse.

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Day Two … Friday … Second and Third Rounds … 

From the unexpected to the inexplicable … 

After watching the New York Giants trade up to No. 25 on Thursday night to select Ole Miss quarterback Jaxson Dart, Sanders on Friday night had to stomach the New Orleans Saints selecting Louisville’s Tyler Shough, the Seattle Seahawks selecting Alabama’s Jalen Milroe and the Cleveland Browns selecting Oregon’s Dillon Gabriel.

Asked Friday night to add context to Sanders’ fall, one executive from a team in the quarterback market said there was “no smoking gun, but it’s not just football either.” The executive indicated that Sanders’ celebrity and the attention he would bring would complicate his selection because he was not seen as a star.

How far was the fall for Shedeur?

Precipitous.

Prior to the NFL Draft, 23 different ESPN analysts posted their mock drafts. Mel Kiper had Shedeur as his fifth best player overall in the draft. The average slot for Shedeur in those 23 mock drafts was 7.4. Shedeur was a Top Ten pick in 19 of the 23 drafts, with none of the analysts having him falling out of the first round.

And now Shedeur was falling to Day Three, with 102 picks already in the books.

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Day Three … Saturday … Rounds Four through Seven … 

Some manner of redemption … 

The fourth round Saturday morning came and went without Shedeur Sanders hearing his name called. No quarterbacks were taken. No Buffs were taken.

The fifth round opened with more of the same. More picks. But No Buffs.

But then, from out of the blue, a team which was looking for a quarterback entering the draft, a team which had spent a great deal of time talking with Shedeur Sanders in days leading up to the Draft, a team which had six picks in the first four rounds, a team which had taken a quarterback in the third round … a team which had its chance to draft Travis Hunter, but traded the pick away … drafted Shedeur Sanders.

With the 144 overall pick in the draft, Shedeur Sanders became a Cleveland Brown.

Under the circumstances – dropping to the fifth round, which is not a place teams go to find starting quarterbacks – Sanders found a good spot to land.

Sanders joins a remodeled quarterback room that also includes Joe Flacco and Kenny Pickett, both of whom were added this offseason, and will enter the Browns locker room on equal footing with third round draft pick Dillon Gabriel, who was taken by the Browns in the third round.

Then things got better for Coach Prime and Colorado, with wide receiver LaJohntay Wester being taken by the Baltimore Ravens (6th round, 203rd overall) and wide receiver Jimmy Horn Jr. being taken by the Carolina Panthers (6th round, 208th overall).

With the four picks overall, Colorado, which had been shut out of the previous three NFL Drafts, had the most Buffs taken since the 2017 (4) and 2011 (4) drafts.

If there has been a consistent theme to CU’s pitch to recruits and transfers in the Coach Prime era it’s this: It’s not about the bag. If you want to chase money, go ahead and sign somewhere else.

“It’s not about a bag, but it is about an opportunity,” Coach Prime told his team before he ever coached his first game at CU. “I always felt like if you dominate your opportunity and you treat people right, the bag is going to always come. I never chased a bag. The bag has always chased me.”

Colorado was going against the grain in building a program. Coach Prime brought in assistants with great football playing resumes, but not great football coaching resumes. CU doesn’t have a deep well of funds for players, so the recruiting had to be: Come to Boulder, and we will coach you up so that you can make it to the League.

That pitch would have rung hollow if CU’s only picks would have been Travis and Shedeur – with Shedeur being the story of the draft for all the wrong reasons.

Now, with four picks in the Draft, the most for Colorado since 2017, Coach Prime and his assistants can point to the 2025 NFL Draft as proof of concept.

A roller coaster few days, to be sure …

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This post, about the Spring/Summer game, from the 2025 Season, is filed under Article.
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