There’s nothing quite like the intensity of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, but the heat of competition spilled over into a brawl between the Washington Capitals and Montreal Canadiens on Friday night to the point where players were fighting on the bench.
The period had ended in Game 3 of this first-round series, in which the Capitals were up 2-0. Capitals star Tom Wilson, known for being an instigator as much as an offensive threat, and Canadiens’ Josh Anderson were jawing back and forth as they went toward the locker rooms.
Things escalated quite quickly, as they began to fight on the Capitals’ bench, while a linesman attempted to get in between them. But it was to no avail, as the referee was only caught up in the fight pushing its way down the bench, and they eventually fell to the floor.
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Other players started to get involved and going after each other as Wilson and Anderson kept fighting, including Washington’s Lars Eller and Montreal’s Arber Xhekaj.
"I was on my way to walk across the ice . . . so then I had to reverse my course and head back, because there was two large individuals coming through the door that I was trying to exit," Capitals coach Spencer Carbery said about the altercation after the 6-3 loss to the Canadiens.
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"It was just two competitive teams, two competitive guys going at it."
"Things escalated, got out of control there a little bit," Anderson added. "At the end of the day, you’re just trying to stick up for your teammates."
Wilson, who received a 10-minute game misconduct and a roughing minor, the same discipline as Anderson, was seen mocking the Canadiens after the fight was eventually broken up.
The Canadiens led after the second period 3-2, and they didn’t look back to collect their much-needed first win in the best-of-seven series on Friday night.
Tension was felt on the Bell Centre ice before puck drop, as Wilson and Xhekaj were exchanging some words during warm-ups, which began making its rounds on social media.
Again, these are two players known for not only sticking up for teammates, but also ruffling the feathers of opponents whenever they can.
We might see more fireworks between these two squads, as Game 4 on Sunday sees Montreal looking to even it up, while Washington hopes to have a commanding lead with the second round in mind.
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The New York Giants took Penn State's Abdul Carter third overall with the dream that he could one day be in their Ring of Honor, solidifying a spot as one of the best players to wear their jersey.
But that jersey won't feature the number 56 on it as he would like.
The number 56 belonged to perhaps the greatest defensive weapon the NFL has ever seen: Lawrence Taylor. It was retired by the Giants in 1994 to honor the Hall of Fame linebacker, and he intends to keep it that way despite Carter mentioning his desire to wear it.
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Carter, however, is using Lawrence's "get another number" comment as fuel for his own fire heading into his rookie campaign with Big Blue.
"The worst thing he could say was NO!! My stance don’t change, LT is the [goat emoji]. Nothing but respect… This just gonna make me work even harder!! I love it," he wrote on X.
Carter's comment stems from Taylor being asked about the Penn State product's own right after being drafted by New York.
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He spoke to fellow Nittany Lion Micah Parsons, the Dallas Cowboys' star edge rusher, who will now be an enemy. Parsons and Carter both wore No. 11 at Penn State, so the former asked the latter if he would carry that tradition into the NFL.
The problem with that number is that former Giants quarterback Phil Simms saw that retired for him as well, but Carter said he was eyeing Taylor's No. 56 instead, to which Parsons and his Bleacher Report co-hosts reacted in amazement.
The New York Post asked Taylor about Carter’s potential number request, and it was clear he wouldn’t be sharing it.
"I know he would love to wear that number," Taylor said. "But, hey, I think it’s retired. Get another number. I don’t care if it’s double zero, and then make it famous."
The Giants' previous first-round draft pick, wide receiver Malik Nabers, did get the blessing from Ray Flaherty's family this past season to wear his retired number one. So, a request isn't out of the ordinary for the franchise.
But Taylor wants Carter to forge his own path in the NFL, and have Giants fans remember him for his own number on his back.
Of course, Carter would absolutely love to have a career remotely close to Taylor's.
He was a 10-time Pro Bowler, two-time Super Bowl champion, the 1986 league MVP and three-time AP Defensive Player of the Year over his 13 seasons in the league – all with the Giants.
Taylor racked up 142 career sacks over 184 games after being taken second overall in the 1981 NFL Draft out of North Carolina.
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The football world is stunned that Shedeur Sanders remains on the 2025 NFL Draft board, but the Colorado Buffaloes quarterback prospect continues to keep a positive mindset on social media.
Sanders was hopeful that he would be taken on Day 2, but after Rounds 3 and 4 came and went, he still didn't know which NFL team he will begin his career with.
Meanwhile, three other quarterbacks were selected on Friday night in Green Bay after Cam Ward went first overall to the Tennessee Titans, and the New York Giants traded back into the first round to grab Jaxson Dart 25th overall.
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Tyler Shough (New Orleans Saints), Jalen Milroe (Seattle Seahawks) and Dillon Gabriel (Cleveland Browns) were all taken before Sanders, and "stunned" was an understatement to describe how analysts and fans alike felt.
But after the final picks were made on Friday, Sanders pointed to his faith with his reaction, saying, "Thank you GOD for EVERYTHING." He had a similar message Saturday morning on X.
"Another day another opportunity to get a chance to play the game I love. Thank you GOD #LEGENDARY," Sanders tweeted.
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There have been 102 prospects taken off the board, and with Round 4 beginning at noon in Green Bay, everyone is wondering which NFL team is finally going to pull the trigger on Sanders.
Why is this happening for Sanders? It’s the question on everyone’s mind, with opinions flying in on all sides. Some feel that his father, NFL great and Colorado head coach Deion Sanders, has blame to shoulder. Others believe the reports during the draft process, which stated that Sanders had had bad meetings with teams.
But it's very unusual for someone like Sanders, a Heisman Trophy finalist last year, to fall this far, considering what's been on tape the last four years. He's shown elite-level accuracy, a solid arm in the pocket and outside, and the tools to be a good quarterback in the NFL.
"It’s gotta be about more than football," ESPN's Booger McFarland said during the NFL Draft broadcast on the network. "He’s the best pure passer you can draft. When you start to see developmental projects like Jalen Milroe and Dillon Gabriel – and nothing against those guys, but they’re not nearly the player that Shedeur Sanders is. When they go before him, the only thing you can say is that it’s more than football."
McFarland's colleague, Mel Kiper Jr., adds: "I think it’s disgusting. I don’t understand what the heck’s going on with this. . . . Somebody’s gonna have to explain that one to me."
Sanders has been surrounded by friends and family in Texas, awaiting the call that has yet to come. In fact, Sanders had to deal with a prank call, which was caught on his Twitch live stream. He has since ended the live broadcast.
But through this surprising free fall, Sanders has been keeping a positive mindset, at least publicly.
The NFL Draft resumes with Round 4 on Saturday at noon Eastern in Green Bay. The Pittsburgh Steelers and Las Vegas Raiders remain the most intriguing teams to nab Sanders.
Some notable starting quarterbacks in the NFL who have flourished after being selected on Day 3 include Kirk Cousins, Dak Prescott and, of course, Tom Brady.
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When quarterback prospect Shedeur Sanders fell out of the first round of the 2025 NFL Draft, there were some who couldn’t believe he hadn't been picked by an organization, although it wasn’t considered a total shock.
But with Friday night seeing three more quarterbacks not named Sanders come off the draft board, the reaction was pure shock.
Sanders, the Colorado Buffaloes quarterback who was a Heisman Trophy finalist this past college season, remains available heading into the third and final day of the NFL Draft. There have been 102 prospects taken off the board, and with Round 4 beginning at noon in Green Bay, everyone is wondering which NFL team will finally pull the trigger on Sanders.
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Surprise and shock might not even be the words to describe this fall down the draft board, arguably being the biggest we’ve seen in recent memory for someone whom many considered to be, at the very least, a Day 2 selection.
Why is this happening for Sanders? It’s the question on everyone’s mind, including ESPN’s Booger McFarland, who thinks the answer lies beyond the tape.
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"It’s gotta be about more than football," he said during the NFL Draft broadcast on the network. "He’s the best pure passer you can draft. When you start to see developmental projects like Jalen Milroe and Dillon Gabriel – and nothing against those guys, but they’re not nearly the player that Shedeur Sanders is. When they go before him, the only thing you can say is that it’s more than football."
Tyler Shough (New Orleans Saints), Milroe (Seattle Seahawks), and Gabriel (Cleveland Browns) were all selected on Friday night in respective order. Gabriel, especially, was the icing on the cake for those who were baffled that Sanders hadn't gone off the board, as some experts didn’t have him on their top five quarterback rankings heading into the draft.
Mel Kiper Jr., the longtime NFL Draft analyst with ESPN, has been adamant about Sanders’ talent, ranking him the highest-graded prospect on his big board. He was vocal about Sanders making it out of the first round on Thursday night, but he was appalled to see what happened the next day.
"I think it’s disgusting," he said during a lengthy rant after Day 2 came and went. "I don’t understand what the heck’s going on with this. . . . Somebody’s gonna have to explain that one to me."
Joel Klatt, who called several Buffaloes games this past college season for Fox Sports, has seen what Sanders can do for a football program in person.
During NFL Network’s broadcast, Klatt pointed the finger at the narratives that were built about Sanders during the pre-draft process as to a reason why he’s slipping.
"Shedeur represents everything I dislike about the NFL Draft, and it’s only one thing: it’s narratives. It’s narratives that are built up, lazy, and quite frankly, trash. When you come out as an anonymous source about some meeting that you had, and you don’t think that some kid measured up to what you wanted him to be when he walked in your room, I think that’s trash.
"Shedeur Sanders is going to be a good quarterback in the National Football League, and I think he’s going to go make some head coach and some fan base very happy, because he’s already done that in his career in what I think is a very difficult spotlight for his dad at the University of Colorado and a program that was nothing before he got there for two decades."
At the same time, Klatt also believes this is time for Sanders to reflect, because the analyst feels it isn’t the tape that’s causing this freefall.
"His play on the field would suggest he should already have been selected," Klatt explained. "There were some quarterbacks, their play on the field probably doesn’t warrant a selection over his play on the field.
"The reason he’s undrafted at this point is because of the person that sat with those teams and did not, for whatever reason, jell with them."
It’s not just the analysts opining about Sanders’ draft situation – even President Donald Trump jumped into the mix to say how crazy it was.
"What is wrong with NFL owners, are they STUPID? Deion Sanders was a great college football player, and was even greater in the NFL. He’s also a very good coach, streetwise and smart! Therefore, Shedeur, his quarterback son, has PHENOMENAL GENES, and is all set for Greatness," Trump wrote in a Truth Social post.
ESPN host Stephen A. Smith called it "a damn disgrace." Denver Broncos head coach Sean Payton, who already has a young quarterback after taking Bo Nix in the first round last years, admitted his surprise and even the Buffaloes football account on X posted 10 minutes worth of Sanders highlights, just to remind everyone of how good he can be on the gridiron.
These reactions are just the tip of the iceberg, as the football world continues to be bewildered at Sanders being available heading into the fourth round on Saturday.
After the final pick was made in Round 3, Sanders, who has been surrounded by friends and family at home, including his father and Colorado coach Deion Sanders, posted on X.
"Thank you GOD for EVERYTHING," he wrote.
Of the teams still in search for a potential new quarterback on the depth chart, the Pittsburgh Steelers, believed to be an option in Rounds 1 and 3, remain a frontrunner, as do the Las Vegas Raiders.
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Thirty-one teams made first-round selections on Thursday night (the Houston Texans traded back), and none of them selected Shedeur Sanders.
But then night two came, and more of the same occurred. In fact, the Colorado quarterback, who was once expected to potentially go in the top-five, was not even one of the top five QBs selected.
Three more quarterbacks, Tyler Shough, Jalen Milroe and Dillon Gabriel, were all selected on Friday; Shough at 40 to the Saints, Milroe to the Seahawks at 92, and Gabriel going to Cleveland at 95.
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Over recent days, reports have been tough on Sanders, with one assistant coach saying he was "entitled" and simply "not that good," while adding his formal interview was "the worst."
ESPN's Dan Orlovsky pointed out some plays that need fixing ahead of the NFL Draft, but his colleague, Stephen A. Smith, doesn't think Sanders fell because of football reasons at all.
"I believe that the biggest issue in all of this was Primetime Deion Sanders and the thought of having to deal with him," Smith said on Friday's "First Take," hours before the second round even began.
"It’s hard for me to sit here today and to watch a dude that was once projected to be one of the top two picks potentially in the draft to drop completely out of the first round and to ignore all those reports that had come out about him leading into the draft."
Sanders' father, of course, has been rather vocal, on top of plenty of NFL rumors, over his coaching days.
"If you think that I’m going to sit here and assume that that was strictly an evaluation about his football skills alone that led to him falling out the entire first round without his father having an impact, I don’t buy that," Smith continued.
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Sanders, at one point, was considered to be the 1B to Cam Ward’s 1A. Ward separated himself and went first overall to the Tennessee Titans.
But, in recent days, it was becoming apparent that teams did not love Sanders – the Raiders took Ashton Jeanty at six, and the Saints went with Kelvin Banks Jr. at nine, officially starting the Sanders fall.
All eyes were on the Pittsburgh Steelers at No. 21. But as no one traded up in front of them, the Steelers’ selection came and went without a QB – they opted for Derrick Harmon.
The New York Giants traded back into the first round, but they opted for Jaxson Dart instead.
And then, rounds two and three happened.
The former University of Colorado star admitted that he and his family "did not expect" what occurred on Thursday night, in footage posted by his brother, Deion Jr.
"We all didn't expect this, of course, but I feel like with God, anything possible, everything possible. I don't feel like this happened for no reason. All of this is, of course, fuel to the fire. Under no circumstances did we all know this was going to happen, but we understand we on to bigger and better things," the quarterback said.
"Tomorrow's the day. We going to be happy regardless. Legendary."
Tomorrow was not the day, and if Saturday isn't it, then perhaps the NFL world will be left speechless.
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