The Cleveland Browns were able to steal quarterback Shedeur Sanders in the fifth round of the 2025 NFL Draft. His fall will be documented for years as players try to learn from his mistakes and the things that led to it.
However, the rookie quarterback is now at the center of a massive $100 million lawsuit.
Browns’ Shedeur Sanders Suddenly At The Center Of $100M Lawsuit (Breaking)
In a lawsuit, a Shedeur Sanders fan claims he suffered “emotional distress and trauma” over the 23-year-old quarterback’s fifth-round draft selection:
“It was immediate frustration,” the fan, who filed the federal lawsuit as “John Doe,” told The Independent, on the condition his real name not be published. “This guy was projected to be the first or second pick, no later than the top five, and to watch mediocre players be chosen before him… it was frustrating.”
Doe, 55, described draft day as “one of the biggest days” of a player’s life.
“And to have all the NFL owners collude and not draft him, it was mentally frustrating and debilitating,” Doe, who said he has no personal connection to Sanders, went on. “For them to believe that they can just do this and there’s no recourse, it has to stop.”
The Cleveland Browns ultimately picked up Sanders, a standout player at the University of Colorado and the son of NFL legend and current Colorado head coach Deion Sanders, 144th overall on the third day of last month’s pro draft. Multiple reports blamed Sanders’ allegedly vainglorious attitude during the pre-draft process as a major reason for his regrettable showing; one NFL front office exec told NBC Sports that the pro hopeful behaved as if he was being “recruited,” not as if he was being “interviewed” for a roster spot.
As for Doe’s “collusion” allegation, the notion has already been shot down by NFL Hall of Famer Cris Carter, who said last week on “The Art Of Dialogue” podcast that Sanders and his famous dad “overplayed their hand.”
Some fans have suggested owners agreed not to draft Sanders as a way to punish him for his dad’s intense messaging and hype around the quarterback.
Doe, who owns a small logistics company in the Atlanta area, is representing himself in court. He said on Monday that he used a pseudonym in an effort to shield his business from the spotlight as he pursues his admittedly peculiar claim. (“The Court offers no opinion on the propriety of Plaintiff filing this action under the pseudonym ‘John Doe,’” Magistrate Judge Christopher Bly wrote in an order allowing Doe, who claims he is unable to afford the customary filing fees, to proceed without upfront payment.)
An NFL spokesman did not respond on Monday to a request for comment.
Doe, according to his May 2 suit, is a “dedicated fan of Colorado football and has closely followed Shedeur Sanders throughout the 2023 and 2024 seasons.” It says he attended the first game Sanders played for the Colorado Buffaloes on September 2, 2023, against the Texas Christian University Horned Frogs, “witnessing first-hand Sanders’ exceptional talent and potential as a quarterback in Coach Deion Sanders’ debut with the program.”
Yet, Doe’s suit continues, despite Sanders’ “demonstrated skills and significant attention” from professional teams over the past two years, he was left hanging until Day 3 of the 2025 draft.
“Reports and leaked statements suggested that Sanders ‘’tanked interviews,’ ‘wasn’t prepared,’ and ‘was too cocky,’ which contributed to a narrative that has unjustly harmed his reputation and potential as a player,” Doe’s suit contends. “These slanderous statements reflect biases that influenced the NFL’s decision-making process, causing emotional distress and trauma to the Plaintiff as a fan and consumer.”
Doe alleges in his suit that the NFL violated the Sherman Antitrust Act, claiming team owners unfairly conspired “to influence the drafting process… [and] to restrain trade and limit competition within the league,” that the “decisions made regarding Sanders may have been influenced by racial discrimination, violating his rights as a player,” that the NFL “may have engaged in unfair practices by misrepresenting the nature of the drafting process and the qualifications of players,” and that the league’s “actions and the dissemination of slanderous statements have caused severe emotional distress and trauma to the Plaintiff, resulting in frustration, disappointment, and psychological harm as a fan.”
Here is how Sanders’ faired at the college level:
| Year | Team | Games | Passing | Rushing | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GP | GS | Record | Comp | Att | Pct | Yards | Avg | TD | Int | Rate | Att | Yards | Avg | TD | |||
| 2021 | Jackson State | 13 | 13 | 11−2 | 272 | 413 | 65.9 | 3,231 | 7.8 | 30 | 8 | 151.7 | 103 | −17 | −0.2 | 3 | |
| 2022 | Jackson State | 13 | 13 | 12−1 | 341 | 483 | 70.6 | 3,732 | 7.7 | 40 | 6 | 160.4 | 85 | 173 | 2.0 | 6 | |
| 2023 | Colorado | 11 | 11 | 4−7 | 298 | 430 | 69.3 | 3,230 | 7.5 | 27 | 3 | 151.7 | 111 | −77 | −0.7 | 4 | |
| 2024 | Colorado | 13 | 13 | 9−4 | 353 | 477 | 74.0 | 4,134 | 8.7 | 37 | 10 | 168.2 | 100 | −50 | −0.5 | 4 | |
| Career[29] | 50 | 50 | 36−14 | 1,263 | 1,803 | 70.1 | 14,327 | 7.9 | 134 | 27 | 158.4 | 399 | 29 | 0.1 | 17 | ||
