2025 NFL Draft Sets Day 3 Record with 4.3M Average Viewers amid Shedeur Sanders Slide

The third day of the NFL draft drew a record-setting 4.3 million viewers across ESPN, NFL Network, ABC, ESPN Deportes and digital channels, as fans eagerly tuned in to see when the shocking slide of Shedeur Sanders would end.

In total, the draft averaged 7.5 million viewers across all three days, making it the second-most watched draft in league history.

Round 1 coverage on Thursday averaged 13.6 million viewers, while coverage of Friday's second and third rounds averaged 7.5 million viewers. The draft was also attended by over 600,000 fans in Green Bay, the second-highest attendance behind Tennessee in 2019.

The excitement generated across the first two days was no surprise, but Sanders' slide—at one point in the draft process, he was considered a potential first-round prospect by pundits—was a humongous talking point among fans, analysts and likely NFL decision-makers behind the scenes.

At one point, Sanders was considered the No. 2 quarterback in the draft class behind Cam Ward. But he watched as a number of quarterbacks were selected before him: Ward and Jaxson Dart in the first round; Tyler Shough in the second; Jalen Milroe and his new teammate on the Cleveland Browns, Dillon Gabriel, in the third.

It wasn't until the fifth round, at pick No. 144, that the Browns ended Sanders' slide, giving the NFL and its draft-broadcast partners an enormous talking point to focus on throughout their coverage.

As ESPN's Jeremy Fowler wrote:

Sanders' lack of top-end talent left him without an NFL home after Day 1. The slide out of Day 2 is harder to explain. Clearly the league spoke: Teams had a problem with Sanders and all that encompasses his draft profile. Yes, whispers persisted that his predraft process did not go well, particularly his interviews. But as a few people inside the league have surmised, slides happen when talent doesn't match or surpass potential drawbacks. Teams hate distractions. If they felt Sanders' presence would be one for whatever reason, his ability at the next level wasn't intoxicating enough to offset all of that."

Once quarterback-needy teams like the New York Giants (Dart), New Orleans Saints (Shough) and Pittsburgh Steelers (Will Howard in the sixth round) decided they liked other options better or didn't want to be in the Sanders' business, a slide was inevitable. And if nothing else, it provided the NFL's broadcast partners for plenty of coverage fodder.