Shedeur Sanders does Aaron Rodgers a favor as biggest winner of historic NFL Draft slide

Shedeur Sanders ended up in Cleveland, not Pittsburgh.

And that difference of a couple hours of a drive is a huge deal for Aaron Rodgers.

Rodgers, the free agent QB heavily linked to the Steelers, is one of the biggest NFL Draft winners of Sanders' shocking slide to the fifth round and No. 144 overall.

Here's how Bill Bender of The Sporting News explains it:

"Once the Steelers passed on Sanders at No. 21, the speculation Rodgers will land in Pittsburgh became rampant. The Steelers, whose only active roster QBs are Mason Rudoph and Skylar Thompson, entered Day 2 with arguably the worst QB room in the NFL. No combination of Day 2 or Day 3 quarterbacks is going to change that. Rodgers has some leverage here if he is committed to returning for a 21st NFL season. He remains better than any of the current options. Sanders would have at least offered a reason to end that speculation."

SN's NFL DRAFT HQ: Live tracker | Pick-by-pick grades | Best players still available

That sums it up well.

A Sanders combination with Rudolph in Pittsburgh could've been just good enough, if the Steelers wanted to take that chance.

But instead, Pittsburgh only drafted Will Howard late. The Steelers still don't really have a starting QB.

Rodgers has to be that guy, barring a surprise trade for someone like Kirk Cousins.

Sanders was the loser of his own slide, ending up the negative talk of the draft while joining an oddly crowded Browns quarterback depth chart.

Rodgers, now free to end up in total control of his Steelers destiny, winds up as a big winner of the three-day NFL Draft.

MORE NFL DRAFT:

• Shedeur Sanders will start when he's ready and could rescue Browns QB woes
• Browns could've had Shedeur Sanders-Travis Hunter combination
• Raiders' Jack Bech draft pick honors brother Tiger after death
• Geno Smith, Jalen Milroe will be forever linked by NFL Draft
• Meet new Giants RB Cam Skattebo, with giant quads and a fun name
• Jets pick a WR whose one main issue is 'hands'
• Texans' Woody Marks has best Toy Story Halloween nickname origin
• Chiefs draft Patrick Mahomes' next Tyreek Hill
• Dolphins draft a guy named Jordan Phillips for second time in a decade
• Dolphins make Tua Tagovailoa injury statement with Quinn Ewers pick
• Meet the Patriots' Mr. Irrelevant
• Why Shilo Sanders, Buccaneers make sense together
• Colts' Anthony Richardson watch is on after Riley Leonard draft pick
• Raiders get Tom Brady's new Julian Edelman
• Steelers draft son of franchise legend
• Lions draft pick makes Egyptian NFL history