GREEN BAY, Wis. — The NFL Draft’s final day kicked off on April 26 with a buzz that could wake a coma patient. Rounds 4 through 7, the meat grinder of the draft, started at noon ET, broadcast live on ESPN and ABC from the frosty heart of Green Bay. This is where teams scrape for hidden gems, plug roster holes, and occasionally make head-scratching picks that leave fans howling. But the story everyone’s chewing on? Shedeur Sanders, the Colorado quarterback, still sitting unpicked after three rounds, a slide that’s got the football world gawking.
Sanders, once pegged as a surefire first-rounder, has watched five other quarterbacks get snatched up. The Titans grabbed Miami’s Cam Ward first overall on April 24. The Saints took Louisville’s Tyler Shough in the second round, a 25-year-old who’s been through more college programs than a transfer portal addict. Seattle snagged Alabama’s Jalen Milroe in the third, and Cleveland shocked everyone by picking Oregon’s Dillon Gabriel, a guy who barely sniffed top-100 prospect lists. The Giants, trading back into the first round, went for Ole Miss’ Jaxson Dart over Sanders. Each call tightened the screws on Sanders’ draft party in Texas, where the mood must be bleaker than a Buffalo winter.
Why the fall? Nobody’s spilling official tea, but Sanders’ pre-draft process didn’t exactly scream “team player.” He skipped the Shrine Bowl and the combine’s competitive drills, banking on his college tape to do the talking. It didn’t. Teams like the Browns, Raiders, and Saints, all desperate for a quarterback, passed him over like a cold burger. Cleveland, sitting pretty with the 104th pick to open Round 4, could be his landing spot. Or maybe Pittsburgh, who’ve been linked to Sanders since January, finally pulls the trigger at 123. The betting odds, shifting like sand, now list the Saints and Raiders as favorites, but nothing’s set in stone.
The draft’s final day isn’t just the Shedeur Show. Plenty of talent’s still on the board, ripe for the picking. Ohio State edge rusher Jack Sawyer, a two-year starter for the national champs, headlines the list. Tennessee’s Dylan Sampson, the SEC’s 2024 Offensive Player of the Year with 1,491 rushing yards and 22 touchdowns, could be a steal for a team needing backfield juice. Florida State’s Joshua Farmer, a defensive tackle with a third-round grade, is another name teams are circling. These guys, plus a handful of others like Iowa State receiver Jayden Higgins and UCLA linebacker Carson Schwesinger, are proof the draft’s late rounds aren’t just for scrubs.
Day 3’s pace is brutal—10 minutes per pick in Round 4, seven in Rounds 5 and 6, five in Round 7. Teams are scrambling, trading picks like kids swapping Pokémon cards. The Patriots, who’ve used their four picks so far to beef up Drake Maye’s offense, might keep that trend going. The 49ers, all-in on defense after losing key veterans, could double down. Kansas City, licking wounds from a Super Bowl trench war loss to Philly, is laser-focused on bolstering both lines. Every selection gets a grade from analysts, with CBS Sports and Yahoo Sports already dishing out real-time marks. The Bears’ third-round grab of Missouri receiver Luther Burden III, a projected first-rounder, earned early praise as a steal.
Sanders’ saga, though, is the pulse of this draft’s final act. His drop is already being called historic, rivaling the slides of Brady and Rodgers in years past. Whether he’s picked early in Round 4 or falls further into the abyss, the clock’s ticking. The draft wraps tonight, and with it, the hopes of 250-plus players looking for an NFL home. By 7 p.m. ET, the last pick—Mr. Irrelevant—will cap a wild weekend in Green Bay. Until then, eyes stay glued to Sanders and the chaos of the draft’s closing rounds.