Sanders also didn’t deserve to be anonymously disparaged last week in an article by NFL Media. A “longtime NFL assistant” was given a platform to rip Sanders as “entitled,” a player who “blames teammates” and “[is] not that good.”
Anonymous sources are necessary for facts, but their opinions should remain private unless they’re willing to put their name on them. That this article was published by the media outlet owned and operated by the NFL is especially galling.
Let’s talk about what Sanders did deserve: Falling to the 144th pick in the fifth round of the draft. Having QB-needy teams like the Saints and Steelers pass on him, time and again.
It’s not the fault of the media and the draftniks. They rated Sanders anywhere from a top-10 pick to a late-first rounder based on the information they had — his game film and his performance at Colorado’s pro day.
What the media and draftniks didn’t know about were the interviews. How Sanders conducted himself in private sessions with teams at the NFL Combine, on campus, and on official visits to NFL facilities.
That, clearly, is where Sanders fell short.
Going 144th is a direct repudiation of how Shedeur and his dad, Deion, handled the pre-draft process.
As upset as Mel Kiper, Stephen A. Smith, and President Donald Trump were over Sanders’ “slide,” the fact is Sanders didn’t slide. He was drafted in the fifth round because all 32 teams determined Sanders’s talent didn’t match all of the potential headaches he can create.
While the NFL Network shouldn’t have printed those anonymous opinions, that doesn’t make them wrong. Sanders’s poor performance in his interviews was quietly circulating before the draft. If anything, the media underplayed that storyline.
CBS Sports also reported before the draft that Sanders’s interviews were so bad that some thought he “sand-bagged” them on purpose. Draftnik Todd McShay said when Sanders visited the Giants, he wasn’t prepared for an install package.
“Got called out on it, didn’t like that. Brian [Daboll] didn’t appreciate him not liking it,” McShay said.
Another source said multiple teams were turned off when Sanders said in his interviews that he was all about football “when I’m in the building,” implying that he’s not all ball when he leaves the facility. That’s not what teams want to hear from a young quarterback — they want to hear that he’s ready to eat, sleep, and breathe football.
Sanders was unapologetic about it. When Browns coach Kevin Stefanski said on Saturday, “our guys understand, when you’re in the building, we’re here to work,” it sounded like he was extending an olive branch to Sanders, whom he now has to work with.
The strangest aspect wasn’t that Sanders dropped to 144th. It’s that the Browns were the ones who took him.
They passed five times and took Oregon QB Dillon Gabriel in the third round. That should have been the end of the story for the Browns, who already had a depth chart of Joe Flacco and Kenny Pickett. Trading up for Sanders will create all kinds of controversy. The Browns have four quarterbacks, but no clear-cut starter.
The second Flacco throws an interception, fans will be calling for Pickett. Or Sanders. Or Gabriel. And the controversy won’t stop when a switch is made. The Browns just willingly signed up for another year of dysfunction at quarterback.
You have to wonder if the call came from the owners’ box. Browns GM Andrew Berry said Sanders’ value was too good to pass up at No. 144, but Berry and Stefanski looked less than thrilled on live TV after making the pick.
“Yeah, I think we’re probably just tired from the weekend,” Berry said.
“Don’t read too much into that,” Stefanski insisted.
Sanders said he’s not expecting anything from the Browns as far as his role.
“I know I’m going to fit in perfectly,” he said. “I feel like it’s first getting in, showing respect to the vets, showing them I’m here ready to work. Show the coaches and have them understand, I’m here ready to work. So they could actually understand the real me.”
Sanders had a lousy draft week, with a lot of humiliation that he didn’t deserve. Not getting drafted until the 144th pick? He has no one to blame but his father, himself, and the way they handled the pre-draft process.
Ben Volin can be reached at [email protected].
