When consensus No. 1 overall pick Bo Callahan plummeted down the board in the 2014 film “Draft Day,” many people felt that the sudden plunge was even too unrealistic for Hollywood. But an even more incomprehensible situation might be playing out in real life as we speak. Although Shedeur Sanders faces drawbacks that the fictional Wisconsin star mentioned above did not, he was widely considered a top-three quarterback prospect going into the 2025 NFL Draft.

Now, there is apparently a possibility he does not get picked until after the oldest QB in the class.

“I won't be surprised if Tyler Shough goes ahead of Shedeur Sanders,” ESPN's Adam Schefter said on Friday, via the NFL on ESPN X account. “Could you imagine if Jaxson Dart and Tyler Shough both wind up being drafted ahead of Shedeur Sanders? I think there are not a lot of teams that love the idea of drafting Shedeur.

“Unless he goes in the third round, No. 83 to the Pittsburgh Steelers, who had a discussion about him on the board at No. 21, I think we may get a team that we never connected to him.”

Shedeur Sanders vs. Tyler Shough

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When the New York Giants completed a trade with the Houston Texans for the right to select Dart at No. 25, most people could attribute the reasoning to either mechanics, athleticism or simply personal preference. It is much harder to understand the football reasons for grabbing the Louisville signal-caller over the Big 12 Offensive Player of the Year.

Plenty of analysts have lauded Shough's arm talent, which is the primary cause for his potential draft-board rise, but he arguably comes with more questions than Sanders and considerably less credentials. The most glaring issues are health and age.

Shough will turn 26 in September and suffered serious injuries in three straight years while at Texas Tech. In his first and only full season at starting quarterback, which took place in 2024-25, he completed just 62.7 percent of his passes for 3,195 yards and 23 touchdowns. Conversely, Sanders led the FBS with a 74.0 completion percentage while also posting 37 passing touchdowns for Colorado last year.

People could point to the competition difference between the Big 12 and ACC, but neither league was regarded as a powerhouse. Perhaps Deion Sanders' potential presence, which is admittedly a strong one, is causing NFL executives to take pause. That is just speculation, of course, but if Shough comes off the board first, then those are the type of things the public will claim in order to make sense of Sanders' massive slide.

Adam Schefter's proposed possibility should be irrelevant if either the Cleveland Browns or Las Vegas Raiders decide to snatch the polarizing prospect early in the second round. If both of those teams pass, however, the NFL Draft will feel as movie-like as it arguably ever has before.