Quarterback Shedeur Sanders took one of the most precipitous drops ever in the recent NFL Draft when the former Colorado quarterback went from being a predicted Top 10 pick to being selected on the third day of the draft in the fifth round.
Throughout the three-day draft, questions were asked about why Shedeur’s stock had fallen so steeply. Those questions have grown louder in the days since Shedeur was taken with the 144th overall pick.
What happened?
We’ve heard a myriad of reasons: Shedeur declined to work out during the NFL Combine, he wasn’t professional during his interview with at least one team, he came across during other interviews as entitled, the NFL and ESPN used him as bait to keep the TV audience tuned in for the three-day draft or that he really isn’t that good.
But the most troubling is that the NFL owners punished Shedeur because of the words his father/coach/agent, Deion Sanders, said in the weeks leading up to the NFL Draft. Deion, a Pro Football Hall of Famer, publicly said that there were teams he would not allow his son to play for and that he would intervene to ensure his son did not play for those teams.
One of the presumed teams Deion was talking about was the Cleveland Browns, who held the No.2 overall pick in the draft and needed a quarterback. The Browns passed on Shedeur with the second pick but took him with the 144th pick after taking another quarterback in the third round.
The plummet Shedeur took in the draft cost him upwards of $40 million on his rookie deal and in the process, the NFL owners may have sent a message to Deion about who is really in charge.
In our latest episode of the Defender Roundtable, long-time sports journalist, entrepreneur and author of Coach Prime Jean-Jacques Taylor joins the panel this week to discuss the controversy that may have led Shedeur Sanders to fall from a possible Top 10 pick and ultimately be taken 144th in the recent NFL Draft.
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