Pittsburgh Steelers avoided Shedeur Sanders due to disastrous draft meetings, Colorado Buffaloes football coach Deion Sanders’ influence

The Pittsburgh Steelers were one of the many teams that felt Colorado Buffaloes football legend Shedeur Sanders was not worth taking in the first five rounds of the 2025 NFL draft.

Pittsburgh’s brain trust supposedly didn’t trust Sanders after his disastrous pre-draft meetings.

They were also afraid of Shedeur’s father, CU head coach Deion Sanders, trying to get involved with the team in some capacity down the road.

“I think mostly, it had to do with, they didn't have a grade on him within the first five rounds. I think the second part of that equation, and this was never really discussed, you’ve seen some leaks with other teams across the NFL. Now, a lot of people just didn’t want to deal with Deion Sanders and what that might be down the road after he’s done at Colorado. So, I don’t know if the Steelers felt that same way, but they did not have a top-five grade. A top-five round grade on Shedeur Sanders, and that’s why they went the route they went,” insider Ray Fittipaldo said Thursday on 93.7 The Fan.

Mike Tomlin reportedly wanted no headaches under center for any reason in 2025 following Russell Wilson’s notable failures on the field and in the locker room, leading to the Steelers passing on the “Grown QB.”

“I think people there would tell you that the Russell Wilson thing undermines so many things in the last month of the season and that a lot of that building really wanted them to go back to Justin Fields. And it was something where Tomlin was kind of, again, all on his own on that one. And I think it’s part of the reason why— Tomlin liked Shedeur going into the draft. But I don’t think Tomlin wanted to press that button again at quarterback after what happened with Russell at the end of the year last year. So there’s some dynamics there where it’s like, there’s some stuff that happened at the end of the year in games, where it was just like, man like if we were just average at that position or we were just running things the way they were supposed to be run, we might have been okay,” Sports Illustrated’s Albert Breer said on “The Bill Simmons Podcast.”

Sanders certainly didn’t support the narrative that he wouldn’t bring extra unwanted headlines after receiving a citation for going 101 MPH in a 60 MPH zone in Strongsville, Ohio, on Tuesday morning.

It speaks volumes that the franchise felt Aaron Rodgers was the more worthy gamble.