The mystery behind top prospect Shedeur Sanders's NFL draft free fall

The winners in the NFL draft drama Shedeur Sanders lived through this past weekend?

Broadcast rights holders, clearly.

Most years, all but the hardest of the hardcore NFL data nerds have tuned out by day three. This spring, we all kept track deep into Saturday afternoon, curious to see just how far Sanders, an all-conference quarterback and, according to some draft experts, a projected first-round selection, would fall. That the Cleveland Browns waited until the fifth round to pick him was great news for ESPN, TSN, and anyone else in the business of keeping viewers glued to the draft.

And the losers?

Sanders, obviously. He expected to land on a team with a plan for him, but instead he'll go to Cleveland, home to five quarterbacks, no clear-cut starter, and a limited number of training camp reps.

Sanders' agent loses out, too. If you're working for a percentage of your client's contract, then you also take a pay cut when nobody calls until day three.

And pity the poor NFL Network, which gladly accepted the ratings bump that came with the drawn-out Sanders draft drama, but will lose out on the reality TV front. An upcoming season of Undrafted, featuring the Sanders brothers, would have been, to crib Shedeur's catchphrase, Legendary. Now they'll have to settle for an off-season with big brother Shilo, who signed a free-agent deal with Tampa Bay.

The rest of us are left to puzzle over what created the gap between Sanders's first-round expectations and his fifth-round reality. 

Did the mock drafts get it wrong?

Possibly. They're educated guesses, not legally binding documents.

Did NFL front offices mess up?

Also plausible. Tom Brady was a sixth-round pick. Sometimes the experts can't recognize an all-pro until he becomes one.