Shedeur Sanders spent an astounding 41 hours and 30 minutes atop Mel Kiper Jr.’s best available list

The story of the 2025 NFL Draft may be the fall of Colorado quarterback Shedeur Sanders. Sanders was a No. 1 overall projection in some analysts’ mock drafts, and was still seen as a likely first-round pick by many heading into the draft, but wound up picked with the sixth pick of the fifth round (144th overall) by the Cleveland Browns. And while there were many media members not only surprised by Sanders’ fall and saying they thought teams should draft him, ESPN draft analyst Mel Kiper Jr. was particularly fervent in those takes throughout the draft’s three days.

Of course, some of that was about where Kiper placed Sanders in his final Big Board rankings. He ranked the Buffaloes’ pivot fifth overall, very high relative to many other analysts (and one slot ahead of fellow quarterback and eventual No. 1 pick Cam Ward). And that meant after fourth-ranked Ashton Jeanty was selected by the Las Vegas Raiders sixth overall on Thursday, Sanders went to the top of Kiper’s “best available” rankings, which were frequently shown on ESPN’s draft coverage.

Sanders would stay atop Kiper’s board for an incredible 41 hours and 30 minutes. That’s the time from the announcement of the Raiders’ selection of Jeanty at 8:48 p.m. Eastern Thursday through the announcement of the Browns selecting Sanders at 2:18 p.m. ET Saturday. And when that pick was made, Kiper went off on NFL teams for leaving Sanders there so long:

Mel Kiper Jr. goes on another Shedeur Sanders rant after the Cleveland Browns select Sanders at pick No. 144.

“Deion’s gonna stay out of it… Deion’s not gonna say anything! Deion’s gonna coach Colorado! A lot of this stuff just made no sense to me!” #NFLDraft #NFL pic.twitter.com/iKCF6d9mmF

— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) April 26, 2025

This came after Kiper had repeatedly ranted about teams passing on Sanders during ESPN’s draft coverage to that point. And he even wrapped up a “Best of Mel Kiper Jr.” historical montage of some of his most inflammatory moments over the years, especially on quarterback slides, with a hope Sanders will follow some of those others and prove critics wrong:

A “Best of Mel Kiper Jr.” NFL Draft montage from ESPN.

Mel after it’s shown: “Hope Shedeur can do the same thing for me. Come on, Shedeur! Let’s go, baby!” #NFL #NFLDraft pic.twitter.com/M0zfDBzB9Z

— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) April 26, 2025

While Kiper was far from alone in having Sanders ranked much higher than where the quarterback was eventually taken, his take stood out for his repeated defense of it on ESPN and repeated admonishments of teams for passing on the prospect. Kiper wasn’t on ESPN’s airwaves for all 41 hours and 30 minutes here, but when he was, he certainly made his opinions on Sanders felt.