Jerry Jones reacts to Shedeur Sanders' shocking NFL Draft slide

The Dallas Cowboys don’t exactly need a quarterback at the moment, with Dak Prescott and Joe Milton leading their room in 2025. That didn’t stop Jerry Jones from weighing in on Shedeur Sanders’ shocking NFL Draft slide over the past two days.

While Sanders falling out of the first round was surprising, the former Colorado star not being selected in either Round 2 or Round 3 was unprecedented. The Cowboys are satisfied with their selections so far, but Jones still took some time to defend Sanders while speaking with the media on Friday evening.

“We thought and evaluated him extremely high in this draft,” Jones stated, regarding Sanders, per Jon Machota of The Athletic. While the Cowboys owner made sure to point out that having Prescott eliminates Dallas from the Sanders sweepstakes, he also spoke at length about how highly he thinks of the Sanders family as a whole.

At this point, whichever team selects Sanders could get some incredible value, if you’re simply evaluating his talent on the field. The franchise that turns that card in likely won’t be Dallas though, as they don’t even have a fourth round selection on Saturday.

Regardless, Jones is far from the only one taken back by Sanders’ slide. ESPN draft expert Mel Kiper, who believed Sanders was the best quarterback in the 2025 class, had a visceral reaction on Friday to another day of teams passing on him.

“You talk about cocky or confident, arrogant or charismatic, OK? Leadership. There’s not going to be a show. There’s not going to be a circus with Shedeur Sanders,” Kiper said. “Deion Sanders was one of the hardest working players in the history of this game. He brought with him a great work ethic. He was loved in every locker room.

“Shedeur Sanders will be the same thing. He will galvanize… I don’t know what people are thinking is going to happen when Shedeur Sanders is part of football team. He said he’s going to work, the players are going to rally around him, he’s going to be a hell of a quarterback in his league, and he will cause a lot of sleepless nights and a lot of anguish.”

Whether that comes to fruition or not remains to be seen. One thing is for sure, there isn’t anyone who expected Shedeur Sanders to still be available on Day 3 of the 2025 NFL Draft. Time will tell, but there’s bound to be a team that takes a chance on the former Colorado star on Saturday.

— On3’s Grant Grubbs contributed to this article.