Shedeur Sanders draft slide timeline: NFL executives cause media meltdown by rejecting polarizing prospect

Craig Carton breaks down how Shedeur Sanders may have actually won big by avoiding the pressure of being drafted in the first round.

The Shedeur Sanders media machine arrived in the NFL with a resounding thud this weekend.

Sanders' collapse from potential No. 1 overall pick to 144th marked an unprecedented moment in NFL Draft history, and rocked the nation.

President Donald Trump called for Sanders to be "picked IMMEDIATELY" on Friday, just before the second round. 

But an NFL team did not select Sanders until Saturday afternoon, late in the fifth round. The Cleveland Browns ended the historic slide late in the fifth round, but by then, the national outrage had run its course.

Viral discourse on the subject ranged in topic from religious to racial. 

Here's how it all went down: 

Tuesday before the draft, NFL Media released a summary of the top 18 prospects in this year's class. 

Sanders' section included testimony from an anonymous assistant coach, who said that Sanders was "The worst formal interview I've ever been in in my life. He's so entitled. He takes unnecessary sacks. He never plays on time. He has horrible body language. He blames teammates. . . . But the biggest thing is, he's not that good."

An anonymous longtime executive added, "It didn't go great in our interview. He wants to dictate what he's going to do and what's best for him. He makes you feel small."

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The quotes went viral, feeding into earlier rumors that Sanders had slid significantly down draft boards. 

But now, the notion that he could fall out of the first round had become widely acknowledged. Eventually, most betting platforms had Sanders at even odds to be a