NFL Draft Day 2 winners and losers: Shedeur Sanders down, Tyler Shough (and his dog) up

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While the quarterback-needy Pittsburgh Steelers wait for word from Aaron Rodgers, they’ve made one thing clear: They’re not ready to jump into the Shedeur Sanders business. Not yet, at least.

And they’re not alone.

Three rounds into the 2025 NFL Draft, no team is.

One hundred and two selections have been made, and Sanders, a borderline first-round prospect and considered as recently as February to be in the running with Miami’s Cam Ward as the first quarterback off the board, is somehow still waiting. Sanders watched three more quarterbacks — Louisville’s Tyler Shough (No. 40 to New Orleans), Alabama’s Jalen Milroe (No. 92 to Seattle) and Oregon’s Dillon Gabriel (No. 94 to Cleveland) — go ahead of him in Friday’s second and third rounds.

With Ward and Mississippi’s Jaxson Dart going in Thursday’s first round, that means five QBs have heard their names before Sanders.

Has a highly rated player ever fallen this far?

It’s hard to think of one.

Go back to December, when Sanders broke out custom-made cleats featuring the New York Giants logo before Colorado played in the Alamo Bowl. The thinking, at that point, was that the Giants would own the No. 1 pick. Sanders believed he was worth it.

Four months later, he’ll be a fourth-round pick at best. And this is after the Giants, desperate for a young quarterback, hosted Sanders and a host of other top passers for a private visit in the weeks leading up to the draft. Late Thursday night, New York traded back into the first round to grab Dart.

The message has been resounding: Not only do NFL teams not see Sanders as a future starter, but plenty aren’t sold on his potential as a backup.

Hopefully, for Sanders’ sake, he hears his name called early on Saturday.

Here’s a look at some winners and losers from the second and third rounds Friday night.

Winners

John Schneider and the Seahawks

Seattle might’ve found the true gem of this draft in South Carolina’s Nick Emmanwori, a versatile safety who can do everything asked of a modern-day NFL defensive back. (He models his game after Baltimore’s Kyle Hamilton, a worthy comp.) Emmanwori, an All-American last season who started 36 college games, will arrive in Seattle with the physical skills — length, speed, instincts — that could make him the Seahawks’ next great defensive stalwart. Coach Mike Macdonald has to be giddy.

But general manager John Schneider wasn’t done. Thanks to the DK Metcalf trade, the Seahawks had an additional second-rounder, and they added a shifty tight end who should help new quarterback Sam Darnold from the jump. In Elijah Arroyo — one of Ward’s favorite targets last year at Miami — Darnold gains a downfield weapon who can threaten defenses vertically and shed tacklers after the catch. Think: both speed and power. Schneider needed to nail these two second-round picks. Early indications are he did just that.

A few hours later, Schneider used the extra pick he received in the Geno Smith trade to grab a quarterback, Milroe, for just the third time in his 15-year tenure. The last time Schneider took one in the third round was 2012, and two years later Russell Wilson led Seattle to its only Super Bowl triumph.

Tyler Shough (and his dog)

New Orleans feels like a solid landing spot for Shough, who could very well end up being the Saints’ Week 1 starter. He won’t be a typical rookie — Shough will turn 26 in September and was in the same recruiting class as Trevor Lawrence, who’s about to enter his fifth NFL season — so maturity shouldn’t be an issue. Shough’s arm strength won’t be, either.

There won’t be massive expectations in New Orleans, and with first-time head coach Kellen Moore in place, Shough will have the chance to work with one of the league’s up-and-coming offensive minds. He’ll have weapons around him, too, in a division that’s far from stacked: Alvin Kamara at running back, Chris Olave at wideout and Taysom Hill wherever Moore decides to use him. Of note, the selection marks the first time since 1971 that the Saints have used a first- or second-round pick on a quarterback. That 1971 pick? Archie Manning.

Also, shout out to Shough’s dog, who couldn’t have been more excited for the pick.

Tyler Shough’s dog had to get in on the celebration 🙌 @tylershough2

📺: #NFLDraft on NFLN/ESPN/ABC
📱: Stream on @NFLPlus pic.twitter.com/ih9wM0ZUjC

— NFL (@NFL) April 25, 2025

Jack Bech, Raiders wide receiver

A story absolutely worth rooting for. Bech, a wideout from TCU, lost his brother Tiger — a former football player at Princeton — during the terror attack in New Orleans on New Year’s Day. Less than a month later, Bech caught the game-winning touchdown in the Senior Bowl and broke down in tears.

Now he’s a Las Vegas Raider.

After transferring from LSU, Bech battled through injuries in 2023 before breaking out as a senior last fall, piling up more than 1,000 receiving yards. His draft stock skyrocketed. Now he’ll begin his NFL career in Las Vegas, catching passes from new Raiders quarterback Geno Smith.

Jack Bech celebrating with his family after getting drafted by the Raiders 🫶

Bech’s brother Tiger was killed in the New Orleans terrorist attack on New Year’s Eve. pic.twitter.com/GqBiiDOn34

— NFL (@NFL) April 26, 2025

Speaking of the Raiders …

It’s early, but you can start to feel Pete Carroll’s imprint on this franchise. With their first pick in Thursday’s first round, Las Vegas grabbed the most talented running back on the board in Boise State’s Ashton Jeanty, a physical runner who embraces contact. On Friday night, in addition to Bech — who has no issue getting dirty in the blocking game — the Raiders added Darien Porter out of Iowa State, a rangy corner with upside (sound familiar to Carroll’s Seattle days?). And finally, Las Vegas beefed up its offensive line with two more third-round picks in Texas Tech guard Caleb Rogers and William & Mary tackle Charles Grant, both of whom are physical, in-your-face blockers.

This team figures to have a different attitude come 2025, and these picks exemplify that. Las Vegas general manager John Spytek is quietly having a very good draft.

The Ravens*

*If their gamble doesn’t horrendously backfire.

Late in the second round, Baltimore rolled the dice on Marshall edge rusher Mike Green, who has faced multiple sexual assault allegations. It was enough to kick him off more than a few teams’ draft boards. (Green denied the allegations and was not charged.)

If the Ravens were comfortable with Green and his background — and no further incidents occur — this could be one of the draft’s steals. Green finished with 22 1/2 tackles for loss last season alone. For a team that’s always in the running for a Super Bowl, another productive edge rusher could prove crucial come January.

Or, it could make a smart franchise look very, very foolish.

Ryan Day and Ohio State

There were times, both Thursday and Friday night, when it felt like a Buckeye was on the screen every five picks. In fact, the reigning national champs produced seven of the first 45 selections (which is nearly one out of every six). It’s a testament to the talent Ryan Day has coming out of Columbus each year.

So far: four first-round selections and three second-round selections, with more to come Saturday.

Losers

Shedeur Sanders

The QB-needy Cleveland Browns owned two of the first four picks in Friday’s second round. They passed on Sanders both times. Late in the third, they decided to take a shot at a quarterback — and it was Oregon’s Gabriel, not Sanders.

The Steelers were considered a possible landing spot for Sanders as early as No. 21 in the first round. Nope. Pittsburgh went defense. Their next chance came midway through the third. Nope. Running back.

Teams who could use a backup — Dallas and Las Vegas — passed on Sanders.

Sanders is far from a perfect prospect, but at the very least, he’s a second-round talent with a lot to like (starting with an extremely high completion percentage). His fall from a potential QB2 to QB6, which is still no guarantee, is staggering.

This feels less about Sanders the football player and more about Sanders the fit. Did he not jell with NFL teams during the interview process? Did his confidence during the draft process rub some the wrong way? Are clubs hesitant to bring him in as a second- or third-stringer simply because of the spotlight he’ll arrive with, fearing he wouldn’t mesh well in the quarterback room?

Every team has its own reason, its own thinking, its own unique situation. Whether that rationale is ever fully explained remains to be seen.

For now, Sanders waits.

Thank you GOD for EVERYTHING

— Shedeur Sanders (@ShedeurSanders) April 26, 2025

The Texans’ offensive line concerns

Often, what a team does in free agency and the draft is a telling indication of where the general manager sees his roster. More specifically, the holes on his roster. The Houston Texans’ Nick Caserio has made it clear this spring he has no intention of fielding an offensive line similar to the one he did last year, when quarterback C.J. Stroud was sacked 52 times.

In the Texans’ divisional playoff loss in Kansas City, Stroud was sacked eight times and hit 14. That must’ve stuck in Caserio’s mind, because his offseason objective has been clear.

Something needed to be done.

All Caserio has done in the months since is overhaul the entire unit. The Texans could have five new starters come September. And there’s no guarantee the issues are solved, even with a new coordinator and offensive line coach. The potential issue with this is Houston will be gambling that every move pays off.

Instead of picking at No. 25, the Texans traded out. Then, after grabbing wideout Iowa State wideout Jayden Higgins early Friday night, Caserio grabbed Minnesota offensive tackle Aireontae Ersery later in the second round. Time will tell if Ersery fits better on the left or right side, but for a big, bulky blocker who can sometimes struggle against speed, that could be an issue on the edge.

Ersery didn’t seem to lack confidence when he spoke with Houston coach DeMeco Ryans.

“You just got the best tackle in the draft,” he told him.

For Houston’s sake — and Stroud’s sake — that would solve at least part of the problem.

Quinshon Judkins’ draft moment

This was actually pretty great.

The Ohio State running back wasn’t ready when the Browns made him the 38th pick, so Judkins’ mom answered the call from Cleveland general manager Andrew Berry. A moment Judkins had been working for his entire life … and he was … getting a glass of lemonade?

“Yeah, I went to go get a drink,” Judkins said, according to the Columbus Dispatch. “I went to go get a cup of lemonade and I came back and my mom was like, ‘Oh (expletive), like they’re on the phone.’”

Credit to him and the Browns for laughing it off.

(Photo: Julio Aguilar / Getty Images)

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