Going into the 2025 NFL Draft, there was a ton of speculation about who would take quarterback Shedeur Sanders. Rumors connected him to the Pittsburgh Steelers in the first round. However, the Steelers passed on Sanders, and not just with that pick, either. Sanders fell all the way to the fifth round before the Cleveland Browns took him. Former Browns corner Hanford Dixon thinks that Sanders is going to make the Steelers regret passing on him.
“They’re gonna pay,” Dixon said recently on The Hanford Dixon Show. “I guarantee you, Shedeur Sanders is going to make them pay every time we play them. Twice a year, he’s going to make them pay.”
That’s a bold claim, especially considering the history between the Browns and the Steelers. For most of the 21st century, the Steelers have bullied the Browns. Since 2000, the Steelers are 40-11-1 against the Browns in the regular season. While the Browns have done a better job against the Steelers in recent years, their franchise is still struggling to form an identity.
Also, it’s not like the Steelers were the only team that passed on Sanders. He should have more to prove to the whole league, rather than just Pittsburgh. There was a lot of smoke around the idea that the Steelers could draft Sanders. Ultimately, they chose to pass on him.
During most of the pre-draft process, Sanders was billed as the second-best quarterback in this year’s draft. That’s why it was so surprising to see him fall to Day 3. However, the NFL clearly had a lower opinion of him than some analysts, which makes some sense. Sanders doesn’t have one elite trait that projects him to be a high-level NFL starter, and there were reported concerns about how he handled the pre-draft process.
That doesn’t mean he can’t be great though the Browns haven’t exactly been the best team for quarterback development. Cleveland looks to be entering another rebuilding phase, too. There’s a lot going against its whole team, not just Sanders.
Dixon does seem to like the Steelers’ draft overall with a significant caveat.
“I’m going to give them a B+ with their draft. They have some really good players,” he said. “They have some players that I think can come in and help them right now. But I think what’s gonna hurt them, what’s gonna haunt them, is that they didn’t draft Sanders when they had the opportunity to.”
The Steelers’ biggest need is at quarterback. Right now, Mason Rudolph is penciled in as their starter. If they did think Sanders could be a franchise quarterback, then they should’ve taken him. However, because they passed on him, they likely didn’t have complete conviction in that.
The last time the Steelers drafted a quarterback high in a weak class, they ended up with Kenny Pickett. That experiment fell flat on its face. Maybe Sanders will become a capable NFL starter, but the Steelers didn’t want to take that risk. Only time will tell if they’ll pay for that decision.
