Shedeur Sanders wanting to be a Las Vegas Raider has been one of the worst-kept secrets in sports.
The Colorado quarterback has been linked to the organization for a long time, and his social media activity has confirmed his interest. He has posted being around Allegiant Stadium, as well as having his “Thank you GOD” posts deduced by social media detectives as wanting to join the Raiders.
ESPN’s Jordan Ranaan has even mentioned that Sanders reportedly would prefer to be a Raider, putting fans into an even bigger frenzy.
The chances of the connection happening, however, took a massive hit on Sunday. With the Raiders’ victory over the Jacksonville Jaguars, they have now moved from first in the draft order to sixth.
Sanders was quick to comment on the Raiders winning their game, posting on X by only saying “Legendary.”
Legendary
— Shedeur Sanders (@ShedeurSanders) December 23, 2024
While the Raiders are still in a potential position to draft Sanders, the road to doing so became much more complicated.
First of all, the Raiders would have to lose out the rest of the way. With the final opponents being a New Orleans Saints team on their backup quarterback and a Los Angeles Chargers squad possibly benching their best players depending on their playoff position, that could be easier said than done.
Secondly, the Raiders are tied with the Jaguars, New England Patriots, Tennessee Titans, and Cleveland Browns in terms of draft position. With the Raiders having the higher strength of schedule of all of the teams, they will need some help to rise up the order again.
Sanders plays his final college game against the BYU Cougars in the Alamo Bowl on Dec. 28. From there, he will attend the East-West Shrine Bowl, participate in the draft process, and wait for where he ultimately begins his NFL career.
After Sunday, the chances of that destination being the Raiders were reduced dramatically.
