Before the 2025 NFL Draft, rumors had suggested that the Pittsburgh Steelers were interested in selecting Shedeur Sanders. Instead, the Steelers eventually took Will Howard and allowed Sanders to drop to the fifth round to the Cleveland Browns, their AFC North rival.

Howard doesn’t look to be a long-term option, and with an older Aaron Rodgers, it remains uncertain why the Steelers went that route.

Despite the Steelers’ decision, Jason Burgos of Sportsnaut proposed a trade idea to fix that mistake. He listed four teams that could pursue Sanders, including the Steelers.

“The Pittsburgh Steelers will be looking for a new QB again next year. While they have league legend Aaron Rodgers in 2025, all indications are that he will be one-and-done after this season. They need to prepare for life after Rodgers. They were also linked to Sanders before April’s draft. Getting him now for a fairly cheap rate to see what he’s got and if he can be developed into a long-term star is worth it for Pittsburgh,” he wrote.

Russell Wilson Impact on Browns QB Shedeur Sanders

Many questioned why the Pittsburgh Steelers didn’t draft Sanders. Even if they didn’t love him, he was much better than Howard in college and could’ve been useful. At the very least, Sanders could’ve backed up Rodgers and learned from him.

According to Albert Breer, however, there was a Russell Wilson twist in why the Steelers passed on Sanders.

“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,” Breer said.

“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.”

Did Deion Sanders Play a Role in the Steelers Passing on Shedeur?

There’s also another side of the story when it comes to Sanders, and that’s with his father, Deion Sanders. Pittsburgh Post-Gazette’s Ray Fittipaldo suggested that many didn’t want to deal with Deion, adding that it could’ve been a reason the Steelers didn’t draft him.

“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,” he said.

Regardless of why, Sanders is with the Cleveland Browns and could play against the Steelers this season if things go well for him.