The Pittsburgh Steelers passed on Shedeur Sanders with their first-round pick at No. 21 overall, instead choosing Oregon defensive tackle Derrick Harmon, but could they find themselves with another opportunity to select the Colorado quarterback on Day 2?
In many ways, Sanders has beaten the odds by remaining on the board leading into the second round. For a vast majority of the 2024 campaign and the pre-draft process, the 23-year-old was viewed as a virtual lock to be taken within the first handful of selections.
The eighth-place finisher in Heisman Trophy voting, Sanders closed out the 2024 season with 4,134 passing yards, 37 touchdowns and 10 interceptions to his name. Those numbers, alongside his overall production as a four-year collegiate starter, would typically be enough for a signal caller to hear their name called at some point on Day 1.
For one reason or another, however, he never got the call while seeing Miami's Cam Ward and Ole Miss' Jaxson Dart live out their dreams before him.
Perhaps Sanders' stock taking a nosedive was always in the cards and he was partially being propped up due to the fact that this year's quarterback class was rather weak, but it's still peculiar that he wasn't chosen in the first round.
Sure, Sanders isn't the most athletic player in the world and he holds onto the ball for too long at points, but that doesn't fully explain his fall. He is always under a microscope as Deion Sanders' son and maybe some teams aren't willing to deal with that aspect of his profile, though that's a bit of a lazy excuse.
Regardless, Pittsburgh was uniquely equipped to end Sanders' slide down the board, and NFL Network's Ian Rapoport reported that the organization was "split" on whether or not to select him.
Despite their interest throughout the latter stages of the process, however, the Steelers did not choose him and left signal caller as a significant long-term need.
The Cleveland Browns, who traded back from No. 2 to No. 5 with the Jacksonville Jaguars and collected a treasure trove of additional picks, kick off Day 2 at No. 33 overall.
The Steelers still technically could land Sanders, but without a second-rounder after trading for DK Metcalf earlier this offseason, doing so would require either parting ways with premium selections in 2026 or a vast majority of the remainder of their picks this year.
Even if Pittsburgh believes he is its guy, there's almost no scenario in which it secures Sanders. They're next on the clock at No. 83 overall in the third round, and there's too many other variables at play that would prevent the Steelers from bringing him in at this stage.
Maybe they'll settle for someone like Louisville's Tyler Shough or Texas' Quinn Ewers, but Sanders is more or less out of the picture.
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