Warren Sapp’s daughter Mercedes drops a 5-word message after Shedeur Sanders gets drafted by the Browns

After staying longer than expected on the draft board, Shedeur Sanders was finally selected by the Cleveland Browns. The former Colorado quarterback was projected as a locked-in first-round pick during the draft process but eventually slid to become a Day 3 pick in Green Bay.

Sanders was selected in the fifth round of the draft by the Browns with the 144th pick. Without a doubt, that's way below his talent level, considering what he achieved in the last two seasons at Colorado. However, some factors played into making teams pass him on the board.

While the way the draft has turned out is a major setback for Sanders, the quarterback has received a lot of encouragement from friends and family.

Pro Football Hall of Famer Warren Sapp’s daughter, Mercedes, sent her love to Shedeur amid the latest development in the draft. Following his selection by the Browns, Mercedes showed her support by dropping a five-word message on her Instagram Story with the quarterback's picture.

“144 is a powerful number,” Mercedes wrote with reference to Shedeur’s draft selection.

Instagram story

Damien Harris explains why Shedeur Sanders slid to the late rounds

Shedeur Sanders falling out of the first two days is the biggest highlight of the 2025 NFL draft. College football analyst and former Alabama running back Damien Harris gave his thoughts on why that happened during CBS coverage of the draft.

“I think that this is the NFL starting to take a stand with all the changes that we are seeing in the climate of college football,” Harris said. “These kids, they have a lot of power. And especially a kid like Shedeur, whose father happens to be Deion Primetime Sanders.

“Kids hold all of the control and all the power when it comes to college football. Whenever that starts to transcend and work its way and leak and creep into the NFL, that’s when the owners are gonna put their foot down. That’s when the league is gonna put its foot down and say enough is enough.”

College football players have become more powerful in the last couple of years with the advent of NIL and the transfer portal. This has technically given them more say on how things operate in the landscape. Harris believes the NFL doesn't want draft prospects to dictate a lot.