Stephen A. Smith Says Deion Sanders Was 'Devastated' by Shedeur's 2025 NFL Draft Slide

Stephen A. Smith says Deion Sanders was "devastated" to watch his son Shedeur Sanders slide into the fifth round of the 2025 NFL draft.

"Deion, as I told y'all, was devastated," Smith said on Tuesday's episode of ESPN's First Take (at the 6:40 mark). "When I came on the airwaves and talked about how devastated he was... I had not spoken to him at the time. I've spoken to him since, because he called me to thank me for being accurate about what I was saying about the level of devastation that he had felt.

"Because it was a painstaking thing for him to endure, to watch his son plummet knowing it wasn't because of his ability."

The Cleveland Browns ultimately traded up and used the No. 144 pick to draft Sanders.

Smith's report comes the day after Sanders said he had been "hurt" by reports regarding his son's pre-draft process in a Monday appearance on Asante Samuel's Say What Needs To Be Said podcast.

After Sanders' slide down the 2025 NFL draft board, multiple reporters said teams had emerged with negative opinions of the quarterback after meeting with him before the draft.

"It did hurt. But you know, the Bible says God uses the foolish things to confound the wise. So it was some foolish stuff that went on, but you know what? That gave them something that they needed," Sanders said about those reports at the 55:00 mark of the podcast.

"Like that edge that Tom [Brady] had, that edge, it gave them the edge that you had, it gave them the edge that I have."

The Browns had already used a third-round pick to select former Oregon quarterback Dillon Gabriel by the time the team drafted Sanders.

The two rookie signal callers will now head into training camp on a depth chart led by veteran NFL quarterbacks Joe Flacco and Kenny Pickett.

The Athletic's Zac Jackson recently reported that there is "almost no scenario where a rookie wins the starting job initially," and that Gabriel and Sanders are instead likely competing for "longer-term positioning" with the franchise.

Both Flacco and Pickett are only signed through 2025. Whichever rookie emerges on top from the training camp competition could hope to take on a larger role with the team in their second NFL season.