NFL (Sanders)

Narratives continue to unfold surrounding NFL franchise’s selections for the upcoming season following the NFL draft. Usually, the top 10 picks are the most talked about following the draft, and while there are some promising prospects in the first round, arguably the most interesting  pick of the draft came in the 5th round on the last day of the draft.

With the 144th pick in the NFL draft, the Cleveland Browns selected Shedeur Sanders, son of NFL hall of famer Deion Sanders and quarterback from the University of Colorado. Sanders was the 5th quarterback drafted and the 2nd taken off the board by the Browns, who selected Dillion Gabriel from the University of Oregon in the third round.

Sanders was projected to be a first round pick and some draft projections had him being selected as high as the third overall pick. Instead, the top three consisted of quarterback Cam Ward from the University of Miami, wide receiver and cornerback Travis Hunter out of the University of Colorado, and edge rusher Abdul Carter from Penn State.

Lots of speculation regarding the reason for Sanders' slide in the draft naturally rose during the draft and following his selection. Some reports suggested that his personality, and his performances on tape specifically holding the ball for too long and taking sacks may have contributed to his slide to the 5th round. 

"How the NFL views you and evaluates you, they will humble every player. So I think for the Sanders camp, they had this perception of Shedeur as a lock two or three draft pick. And they approached the process that way. There was never anyone from the outside that could get through to him and say, ‘Wait a second, he’s not guaranteed to be a two or three draft pick.’ And the fact that you are approaching the process that way is hurting him." ESPN draft analyst Matt Miller told Fox News.

Other analysts suggest that Shedeur’s slide wasn't a slide but in fact it was a push, and a deliberate attack by NFL general managers in a response to Shedeurs perceived overconfidence and arrogance leading up to the draft. Shedeur and his father Deion are two large personalities, especially Deion who has gone on the record stating he wants to be involved in Shedeur’s NFL career.

When asked in an interview whether or not Deion would step in and stop Shedeur being drafted by the wrong team he answered affirmatively, "Yeah, but I'm not going to do it publicly, I'll do it privately," Sanders said.

It's for reasons like these that some analysts speculate that NFL organizations passed up on Shedeur due to his and his fathers personality. As NFL teams don’t want a player who thinks they are bigger or better than the team and its coaches. 

“Shedeur has too big of an ego and he’s more of an entertainer than an NFL quarterback to me, his dad also brings a lot of drama and I don’t think franchises want to deal with that,” NHS senior Nate Crone said.

Statements from Sanders can be interpreted as arrogant instead of confident. An example of this confidence came when he wore New York Giants cleats to his final college bowl game, in which Colorado was blown out 36-14 by BYU. This seemed to be a pretty clear message that Sanders thought he was going to be drafted in the first round by the Giants, who had the 3rd overall pick.

“I don’t think he should’ve slid this far. He worked very hard to get into the position he’s in and a little confidence shouldn’t have resulted in this much of a slide,” NHS senior John Barzetti said.

Instead, the Giants passed up on Sanders twice in the first round, once drafting Carter, and a second time trading up to get quarterback Jaxson Dart from Ole Miss. It was after this pick when alarm bells started to rise about Sanders' draft slide.

“If they don’t take you right now then it’s something going on,” Shadeur’s brother Shilo Sanders said.

Compounding Sander's draft slide, he also had to deal with a prank call from a college student named Jax Ulbrich, the son of Falcons defensive coordinator Jeff Ulbrich. The league fined the falcons 250,000 dollars for the incident.

The student called Sanders impersonating the Saints head coach stating “It’s been a long wait, man, we’re going to take you with our next pick right here, man, but you’re going to have to wait a little bit longer, man. Sorry about that.” Jax Ulbrich said.

Several other NFL draft prospects were also harassed with prank calls during the draft which continue to be investigated.

The Browns spent extensive time with Shedeur before the draft evaluating him and spending time speaking with him. Sanders now has an opportunity to work and prove himself with the Browns, who have adopted a no nonsense policy with Sanders.

"Let's get ready to go to work and prove all the people who passed on you wrong," Cleveland Brown general manager Andrew Berry said. 

Sanders and the rest of the NFL prospects in the draft look to be a promising draft class for the upcoming NFL season.