We’re days removed from the NFL Draft and Shedeur Sanders is still the biggest talking point of the weekend. A player sliding lower than their projected draft spot is hardly anything new, but going from a presumed 1st round pick to the 5th, without serious injury or legal concerns just isn’t normal.
Sanders had to wait until midway through Day 3 just to hear his name. It was a bad joke, as an island of misfit toys at quarterback heard their name called before his. We had the old one (Tyler Shough), the tiny one (Dillon Gabriel), and even the Zach Wilson one (Jaxson Dart) — yet Shedeur, a guy who finished the season with 4,100 passing yards at 74% completion, with 37 touchdowns and 10 interceptions just couldn’t find a home.
In the wake people have been trying to work out what exactly happened. How does a guy go from being mocked inside the Top 10 plummet for seemingly no reason? When it comes to Shedeur it’s not a case of simply being one mammoth problem, but a host of smaller ones — the majority of which we can actually attribute to Deion Sanders.
Let’s take a step back from the superlatives and break down exactly what went wrong when it came to draft weekend for Shedeur Sanders.
The ability
There is no doubt Sanders knows how to play football. At Colorado he was an accurate, reliable passer — and too much credit is given to Travis Hunter for his play. The truth is that Sanders was extremely good throwing with anticipation, throwing receivers open, and running things mistake-free from the pocket.
Issues crept in when you began trying to project him to the next level. Shedeur is not an extremely athletic player. In fact, he possessed below-average athleticism for the quarterback position based off modern benchmarks, and on film he displayed an inability to escape athletic edge rushers on a regular basis. Sanders was a stay-at-home, old-school pocket QB trying to be drafted in an era where scouts are looking for improvisational athleticism, an ability to throw off-platform, and the arm talent to execute on these plays. Essentially the thinking is that things will go wrong in the NFL, so teams want players who can process quickly, make good decisions, and have the physical traits needed to make it happen.
It’s for this reason Bryce Young and Caleb Williams went No. 1 overall in back-to-back drafts. Both possess the requisite athleticism and off-platform throwing needed to ameliorate bad blocking. Sanders didn’t have that. His arm talent was below the NFL ideal, he didn’t have great lateral movement, and his slow, often loping release was tailor made to lead to batted passes, or worse.
There were also questions about whether or not Shedeur had room to grow in the NFL. Guys can’t enter the league and magically become athletic, but you want to see clear areas where NFL coaching can lift a quarterback’s game. When it came to Sanders there were very real concerns that he was more or less at his ceiling, not entirely dissimilar to Mac Jones in 2021.
Historically we’ve seen that low-ceiling, high-floor quarterbacks are good, but rarely ever great in the NFL. Still, this isn’t enough in isolation to justify a player falling as far as Sanders did.
The interviews
There seems to be enough smoke at this point to indicate that Shedeur Sanders rubbed a lot of teams the wrong way when it came to meeting with them. Jonathan Jones of CBS Sports reported that he essentially sandbagged interviews with teams he didn’t want to play for — all in an effort to engineer his draft spot.
Reports of how this unfolded range from being cocky, to disengaged — but either way it was some of the worst draft management we have ever seen from a prospect. Someone clearly influenced Shedeur, advising him to act like this so he could land in a preferred spot, and that’s a fundamental problem when you’re not an ideal prospect.
It’s a move you can get away with if you’re a Deion Sanders or a Cam Newton — someone so athletic teams are willing to overlook a rough exterior. You can’t do it when you’re a low-ceiling QB in need of an opportunity.
There is absolutely no question Shedeur Sanders is a better quarterback than players taken above him. He is certainly better than Dillion Gabriel or Tyler Shough, and there’s a case to be made for Sanders being better than Jalen Milroe or even Jaxson Dart. However, by carrying himself like a presumptive superstar it crossed the line from confidence to hubris, while also failing to recognize that football guys talk across teams — and they are a petty bunch. There are too many decision makers in the NFL who venerate the sanctity of football, and want guys to kiss their feet in draft interviews. It’s a childish way to approach the game, but it happens.
The Deion effect
The defining trait of Deion Sanders’ football career was cockiness — and backing it up. One of the most astonishing athletes we have ever seen, Sanders used his personality as another tool in his toolbox to frustrate opposing players, put them on tilt, and make them pay. It’s for this reason he’s both one of the most loved and reviled players in the history of the game, depending on whether he played for your team or not.
However, this was problematic when it came to bringing Sanders’ attitude to the draft process. Before the college season ever began Deion was talking about stepping in like Archie Manning if his son was taken by the wrong team, and continually dropped breadcrumbs on social media about how he wanted Shedeur to play for the Raiders in Las Vegas, or for one of the two New York teams.
Before the draft process ever began we had Deion essentially take the number of teams who would consider drafting Shedeur from 10-12 organizations, down to three. This was a mammoth problem, because as the process unfolded we saw the Jets sign Justin Fields in free agency, seemingly comfortable with giving him a chance to start, and the Raiders made a trade for Geno Smith with his Pete Carroll familiarity. It left only the New York Giants, with an offensive coach known for favoring the RPO (thereby needing an athletic quarterback), and a GM in Joe Schoen who cut his teeth under old school general managers.
Any team who was potentially interested in Shedeur Sanders now had numerous hurdles to overcome before considering drafting him:
- Was Deion going to be a pain if he didn’t want Shedeur playing for my team?
- This kid didn’t interview well with me
- If we have a QB starting, is Deion going to give me a headache in the media for every game he doesn’t start?
Again, these are easily surmountable if Shedeur Sanders was a AAA prospect with ideal NFL athleticism, but at some point the potential hassle outweighs the benefit — and we saw that unfold in the NFL Draft.
I believe in Shedeur Sanders, but things have to change
Sanders was still my favorite quarterback in this draft class, which isn’t saying much considering how weak it was. I know the arm issues, I understand he’s not much of an off-platform thrower. That said, I’ve seen players who are very much in his mold succeed in recent years, from Baker Mayfield to Tua Tagovailoa.
Just as you can’t teach athleticism, I don’t believe you can teach anticipation when it comes to being a quarterback. Sanders has that ability to see a play unfold before he releases the ball, even if it doesn’t come out with as much velocity as you want. There’s enough ability here that Shedeur can excel if put in a West Coast passing system with a solid running back. In fact, I think he can be the perfect Kevin Stefanski quarterback in Cleveland — but work needs to be done.
Shedeur needs to get rid of the pretense. If he wants to have an NFL career then following in his dad’s path with how he deals with team officials and the media has to change. He needs to un-learn everything his dad taught him when it comes to leading with bravado and overconfidence. The path forward is through hard work, humility, and being willing to follow a vision, rather than project one for himself.
Sanders is in a spot where he can absolutely shine. The Browns’ QB room is an absolute mess with Joe Flacco, Kenny Pickett, and Dillon Gabriel ahead of him. There is zero reason Shedeur can’t separate himself in training camp and at least land the QB2 job. That said, he also needs to tell his dad (lovingly) to back the hell off. The last thing his NFL career needs is a struggling start or two from Joe Flacco, only to have Deion on social media saying his son should be starting.
Finally, understand that being a mid-round rookie is a thankless job with a lot of tough moments. This is a player who isn’t used to having to fight for a position or prove himself, so he’ll need to adapt his mindset quickly and get into work mode.
If Shedeur Sanders can do these things (and honestly, I don’t know if he can) then there’s a very real potential he could become an extremely solid NFL quarterback. He might never be a top-tier starter, but there are traits here — especially in a run-focused NFL, that he can make some noise. He just needs to be loud in the right way.
