Shedeur Sanders

Hear it here!

 

No one really had an idea.

No one had an answer.

No one could figure out why.

Everyone had opinions. Some of them could have made sense.

One was so absurd it made you shake your head.

I reached out to some professionals who might know, but no one could put their finger on it.

Why was Shedeur Sanders, one of the very top quarterback prospects ignored until the fifth round of the NFL draft when he easily could have been one of the first three players chosen in the very first round?

What Sanders went through, waiting painfully so long before he was finally picked, created a bizarre story that dominated the annual draft of college players.

Added to the mix were a couple of prank phone calls including one coming from the son of another team’s assistant coach.

Sanders had been the quarterback at Colorado under his father and head coach Deion Sanders, an NFL legend.  The Buffaloes experienced a revival the past few years and Shedeur was one of the major factors.

Now, he was slated to be drafted early by one of the many teams seeking young quarterbacks who would lead them out of the wilderness to victories, triumphs in the playoffs, and even a Super Bowl or two, making his team relevant for years ahead.

There have been many cases of highly-touted prospects who fell dramatically from where they figured to be selected. But no one has ever seen such a precipitous drop as we witnessed with Shedeur Sanders.

The big question became….why?

Not a soul really knew for sure, but they covered considerable territory.

On the eve of the draft there was a report by a team’s assistant coach describing a bad in-person interview with Sanders that put him in a negative light.

The coach accused the player of acting entitled, pointing fingers at his offensive line when the team lost, and generally presenting himself as anything but what teams want in their starter at that critical position, a leader.

Others fell back on his pure ability, insisting he was overrated and not up to the level of a potential quarterback to lead a franchise. Although one expert of note, ex-Alabama head coach Nick Saban says he has all the skills, and actually did have to perform with a sub-par offensive line in front of him.

Then there were those who pointed to his father, who has been a controversial figure wherever he’s been. Deion Sanders, a brilliant player with the Dallas Cowboys and the Atlanta Falcons in his day, nicknamed Prime Time, has also been a polarizing individual known for his brash, sometimes outrageous comments.

Shedeur seemed to carry some of his father’s traits, notably a level of confidence expressed in grandiose ways.

But the young QB also appeared to be strong in his faith, and as the disappointment grew with each empty moment of the draft, Shedeur kept calm, reserved, and in control.

Perhaps teams felt they would rather avoid the circus of choosing him and going through the possibility of dealing with a father and son who might not accept decisions that would prove negative, say, not becoming a starter, or worse, being benched for poor performances.

One outrageous charge, echoed by the loud, look-at-me commentator Stephen A. Smith, brought racism into the picture claiming owners colluded not to draft Sanders because he was black, similar to the failure of Colin Kaepernick, years ago, who would not find a team when he was available. He was deemed not good enough at that point of his career despite good success early on.

Smith has been around long enough, I would suspect, to know that owners do not collude. In the cut-throat business of the NFL, owners would do almost anything to get an edge over their rivals. And to bring up the tired old racism label is a joke considering a black quarterback was the #1 choice in each of the last three drafts, and teams traded up to add top African-American players to their roster.

All 32 NFL teams want to win. End of story.

By the way, the top pick in this year’s draft was Cam Ward, from Miami, by the Tennessee Titans. But no one’s talking about him.

Ultimately, the Cleveland Browns rose up and selected Sanders in the fifth round.

He was the seventh quarterback taken and the 144th player overall.

In fact, the Browns had already gone for another QB, Dillon Gabriel of Oregon in the third round.

Throughout the Shedeur Sanders drama there was an unsettling moment when he received a call earlier in the draft from someone who said he was Mickey Loomis, the General Manager of the New Orleans Saints. The voice indicated that Sanders would be drafted on the next pick, only to hang up. It was a prank. The one who called was the 21-year old son of the Atlanta Falcons defensive coordinator. A cruel move considering the ongoing shock of what was unfolding for three days.

The NFL launched an investigation and discovered who made the unfortunate call.

Young Sanders handled the incident impressively. He never exhibited anger, instead he leaned on his faith. He even joked that sometimes childish things occur.

Perhaps Sanders matured and grew throughout the ordeal in a way no on anticipated.

Who knows how his father, Deion will handle his son’s new chapter with the Browns?

Will he make demands? Will he interfere in any way? Will it turn into a circus?

It’s now up to the Cleveland Browns to run their team. I know Shedeur will be playing for a good and respected head coach, Kevin Stefanski.

The young man expressed his desire to become a member of the team and work to get to where he wants to go.

If there ever was a case of a high-level player on a mission to prove people wrong, this is the one.

I have a hunch he gained a following, the support and maybe a rooting interest of people he didn’t have before.

I know one person who’s now pulling for him.