Tom Brady Under Fire for Text He Sent Shedeur Sanders After NFL Draft Slide

While the NFL draft is now in the rearview mirror and draft position ultimately matters less once players are in the league, the conversation around Shedeur Sanders’ unexpected slide to the fifth round remains a hot topic. 

The Cleveland Browns selected Sanders with the No. 144 overall pick. As he prepares to join his new teammates for rookie minicamp, one of his longtime mentors—NFL legend Tom Brady—spoke about the moment on the "Impaulsive" podcast and revealed what he texted Sanders after the slide.

“I actually texted Shedeur because I know him very well,” Brady said. “And I said, ‘Dude, whatever happens, wherever you go, that’s your first day. Day two matters more than the draft. I was No. 199. So who can speak on it better than me? You’re going to get your chances—go take advantage of them.’”

Brady, perhaps the greatest quarterback of all time, is a fitting example of a late-round pick who defied expectations. However, his comments stirred controversy because he is also a minority owner of the Las Vegas Raiders—a team many believed was in need of a young quarterback, despite having Geno Smith. The Raiders passed on Sanders multiple times during the draft.

Brady claimed on the podcast that he had no involvement in the team's draft evaluations. Still, some fans have criticized his remarks as disingenuous, speculating that he may have more influence within the organization than he’s letting on.

"Isn’t Tom Brady an owner of the Raiders?" A fan said. 

"If Sander was so good, Brady would have made sure the Raiders picked him," another fan posted. 

"What a liar lol. He knows why he dropped to round 5 dude trains with him and didn’t pick him," someone else added. 

"Brady picked Spytek and Carroll. Tried to recruit Stafford. We think he doesn't have a hand in QB decisions?" Another fan said. 

One more fan commented, "We passed on him 8 times please stop with this fake positivity [explicit]." 

Tom Brady was reportedly involved—at least to some degree—in the Raiders’ decision to hire general manager John Spytek, who came over from the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, as well as legendary head coach Pete Carroll. Given that context, it’s bold to assume Brady wouldn’t be consulted if the team had questions about the quarterback position.

That said, the Raiders did invest in Geno Smith, signing him to a two-year, $75 million deal to be their starting quarterback. Still, Sanders could have been viewed as a long-term solution at the position. Las Vegas also has Aidan O'Connell and drafted rookie Cam Miller in the sixth round of the draft.

According to GM John Spytek, Brady is a fan of Miller—a detail that only fuels skepticism around Brady’s claim that he wasn’t involved in the team’s quarterback evaluations.

He liked the way he threw it, his technique, throwing from the ground up and his motion,” Spytek said of Brady’s assessment of Miller. “And he thought he had the potential to improve.”