It’s been less than a month since Shedeur Sanders fell to the final day of the 2025 NFL Draft, to the surprise of many experts and fans.
The Colorado product’s slide from an expected Round 1 pick to Round 5 was the biggest shock of the event this year and a Colorado Buffaloes fan is seeking $100 million in damages from the NFL. The fan filed a lawsuit on May 7.
Nearly two weeks later, they’ve now filed an emergency motion for early and targeted discovery.
On May 19, the plaintiff – referred to as John Doe – filed this motion in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia. The reasoning for this filing was ‘the urgency, public interest, and volume of evidence likely to be in the exclusive possession of the NFL.’
The filing is requesting specific documents including:
- Internal communications (emails, text messages and memos) between NFL executives, league officials, team general managers, representatives, scouts and owners relating to Sanders from Jan. 1, 2024 through May 1, 2025;
- Scouting reports, internal assessments, draft boards and interview notes used by NFL teams when evaluating quarterbacks in the 2025 NFL Draft;
- Audio or video recordings to team meetings, draft room communications, or NFL combine sessions involving Sanders;
- Communications with third-party media outlets regarding public portrayal and narrative of Sanders prior to the NFL Draft;
- All documents related to the NFL’s investigation into the prank call placed to Sanders;
- Results or report of the inquiry into why Sanders’ personal phone number provided to the NFL was released to waiver wires;
- The 61-page arbitration report that found evidence of collusion against black quarterbacks.
The filing states that this is urgent and essential because ‘the actions at issue have caused irreparable harm not only to Sanders’ but also to the plaintiff and ‘fans who reasonably expect fairness, integrity, and nondiscrimination.’
“We are committed to exposing the truth behind what appears to be a systematic effort to undermine Shedeur Sanders’ opportunities in the NFL,” Doe said in a statement accompanying the filing. “This motion is not just about one player; it represents a broader fight against racial discrimination and the abuse of power within one of the most influential sports leagues in the world.”
Doe also filed an argument against dismissal of complaint in frivolity, essentially an attempt to keep the court from dismissing it for lacking merit.
That argument referred to other racial discrimination cases filed against the NFL, including Trotter v. The National Football League and Flores et al. v. NFL, as well as former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick’s lawsuit filed in 2019.
At the time of publishing, the NFL has not responded to the lawsuit.
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