Shedeur Sanders' dramatic drop contributed to a massive television ratings boost for the 2025 NFL Draft. The Colorado quarterback, a projected top-five pick, eventually plummeted all the way to the fifth round. Friday night's coverage of the second and third rounds averaged 7.4 million viewers, up 40 percent from 2024 according to Nielsen's fast national numbers. That ranks second all-time for Day 2 draft coverage behind the 8.2 million viewers in 2020. The 2020 draft was an outlier, however, as it occurred amid the COVID-19 pandemic and was one of the few live sports telecasts in weeks. Figures for the individual networks (ABC, ESPN2 and NFL Network) were not immediately available.
Shedeur Sanders' draft plummet drives massive TV ratings
