When the 2025 NFL Draft kicked off, we heard experts like Adam Schefter and Ian Rapoport suggesting Colorado quarterback Shedeur Sanders could go anywhere from third overall to the New York Giants all the way to falling out of the first round.
At this point, we know what happened. Sanders' draft slide took an even wilder turn after he was left on the board at the start of Day 3. Some would even call his slide unprecedented.
On the other hand, there are some who could have seen this coming a mile away. Take former Giants running back Tiki Barber, for example. The 3-time Pro Bowler appeared on a show during the draft and gave his two cents on why he believes Sanders took such a dive.
"This is maybe because of NIL, and trust me guys, we know that Shedeur Sanders whether via his father or via the ridiculous amount of NIL money that he made, he got paid a lot over the last couple of years,"
Barber went on to mention a social media post by NFL insider Jay Glazer that talked about some notable red flags with prospects over the years, but that now there's a new one essentially labeled "doesn't love football."
Tiki Barber questions whether or not Shedeur Sanders loves the game of football
The former Giants running back seemed to suggest that because of everything being handed to Sanders his entire life, the Colorado star might just not love the game of football.
"I don't need to grind to go get paid," Barber thought aloud.
"Kids come in and they don't love it. They don't love the grind. They don't want to grind because they're already paid," he went on.
"If you look at any of the social media of Shedeur Sanders over the last two years, trust me, you see him driving a Bentley, you see him wearing ice out the wazoo. You see him on every social media commercial post.
"Does he love the game? And if that's the question, teams are increasingly not going to take you. That's my best guess of why he fell," Barber finished.
Whether or not you agree with what Barber said, he does make some valid points. Only time will tell if Sanders loves the game enough to put the work in every day and handle himself like a pro in this league.
Until we see it, though, the speculation will continue to run rampant.