SPORTS CORNER: WEEK OF 4/27 – 5/3
Shedeur Sanders was projected by Fox Sports analysts less than two weeks ago to be a top three pick. So what made him fall to the 144th pick of the NFL draft? This report from Rob Rang noted Sanders’ “pinpoint accuracy and comfort in the spotlight,” yet every team passed on the Colorado talisman in the first round. In fact, five quarterbacks were taken in the draft before Shedeur Sanders, sparking constant conversation about when he would be picked that unfortunately shadowed over the draft.
TEAM NEEDS
This wasn’t a draft that didn’t need quarterbacks, with multiple teams coming off of lackluster seasons and looking for a new head at the helm. Yet at the NFL combine, Sanders caught a lot of flack for his confidence, already painting him as a divisive figure pre draft. Fox Sports stated pre draft that…
“every year in the lead up to the draft, at least one top prospect — usually a quarterback but not always — is picked apart by draft evaluators. This year, it’s Sanders’ turn.”
However, how deep he fell was widely unexplainable, especially when it was reported that the Pittsburgh Steelers, one of the teams most in need of a quarterback, “were one of the only teams to leave their meeting with Sanders with a positive impression.” Yet they continuously passed on him in the draft, and are now left with what CBS Sports’ Garrett Podell states is “the worst quarterback room in the entire NFL.” So why not build for the future with one of the most NFL ready quarterbacks in the draft? Are his character issues truly that concerning?
TEAM CONCERNS
What’s been consistent post draft is that we’ve heard more bad than the good. It’s very known how the media likes to target athletes who are divisive, especially when they’re as high profile and outspoken as Shedeur is. Some compared the status of Sanders pre draft to Johnny Manziel, yet Sanders was without the off field issues. But it’s impossible to say that the reports we’ve heard about Sanders are not concerning, and such a fall only amplified this.
Some would call him confident. Others would call it arrogance. And unfortunately, coming into the draft, NFL scouts didn’t like his strong mentality, the backwards hat, or the expensive watch. He said after his pro day, “I feel like I’m the number one quarterback [in the draft] because that’s what I know,” a sentence that might not resonate with every team. He then added, however, “Whatever situation and franchise believes in me and gives me that opportunity, I’m excited to go. Wherever that falls, it don’t really matter to me,” shying away another pre draft criticism: that his father Deion Sanders was attempting to get him only on certain teams.
HIS SITUATION
Shedeur Sanders joins what has become the most talked about QB room in the NFL, after the Cleveland Browns took him in the 5th round. A very questionable pick for an already crowded room, which was made even worse by the fact that they had already drafted Oregon’s Dillon Gabriel only two rounds earlier. He walks into an environment where there are 4 possible starters for this season, between seasoned veteran Joe Flacco, Kenny Pickett with his last shot as a starter, the aforementioned Gabriel and Sanders fighting to prove themselves, and even Deshaun Watson looking to return from his achilles injury before the end of the coming season. What this means is that Sanders will have to fight for a roster spot, a harsh reality for a player who, deservedly, expected to be a franchise piece of the team he was joining.
Only time will tell if pick number 144 was perfect timing.
