It has been quite a weekend in the sports world. The NFL draft concluded yesterday afternoon and the NBA and NHL playoffs are in full swing.
The largest storyline of the weekend was the plummeting draft stock of former University of Colorado Quarterback Shedeur Sanders. Despite being projected to be drafted very early in the first round, Sanders was not selected until the middle of the fifth round of the draft.
Now there have been significant draft slides before during the history of the draft. The most famous instance was probably Aaron Rodgers falling from possibly being the first overall selection to being drafted 24th. There are also a few other instances of players who are projected to be drafted in the first round not being picked until the second round. A slide of this magnitude is unprecedented.
As of this moment I still have not heard or read any concrete reasons for Shedeur’s plummet to the fifth round. The most consistent theories are that teams do not think that he is talented enough to justify the possible distraction he might pose for an NFL franchise.
For those of you who have been living under a rock the past few years, Shedeur Sanders is the son of former NFL superstar and current Colorado head football coach Deion “Prime Time” Sanders. Deion is a very polarizing figure in the sports landscape at the moment.
A lot of people, mostly older people cough cough, do not like Coach Prime’s new age style of coaching. Coach Prime leverages his fame and marketability to maximize the talent on his roster. In the current NIL landscape of college football playing for Coach Prime is a very intriguing option for a lot of young athletes.
The success of Coach Prime, who is devoid of a standard coaching background, has rubbed a lot of football traditionalists the wrong way. I can understand why lifelong coaches who have dedicated their life to that profession do not like that Deion went straight from being a media personality to a head coaching position. Personally, I love how he connects with all of his players on a personal level. He also appears to genuinely want to mentor and help all of his players as human beings.
A lot of kids that Coach Prime has welcomed to his football programs have not come from the greatest family situations. Deion Sanders deserves some admiration for providing these kids with a positive role model and influence.
In regards to his son, Shedeur, I sadly believe that people’s feelings for his father affected the beginning of Shedeur’s NFL career. There are rumors of very legitimate reasons as to why Shedeur’s NFL draft stock plummeted. There are rumors that his athletic abilities did not test well. There are also rumors that he did not interview very well with teams. Regardless of the reasons a draft slide of this magnitude is very hard to justify.
Shedeur led all of division one college football in completion percentage last season. This was at a major state university playing in one of the premiere colleges in all of college football. Regardless of how you feel about him as a person, his performance on the field alone more than justified being a high NFL draft pick.
I am sure that Shedeur and his family are very upset today. As affluent as the Sanders family is, Shedeur personally lost tens of millions of dollars this weekend by sliding this far in the draft. Personally, I will be rooting for him to prove all the teams wrong that passed on him.
This whole situation is eerily similar to the Colin Kaepernick situation that the NFL had a few years ago. Despite clearly being talented enough to play in the NFL, Kaepernick was ostracized by teams, and no one would sign him to their active roster. Their reasons for not signing him were not related to football but rather political reasons. I truly hope that is not the case with Shedeur.
It doesn’t matter how your career starts Shedeur, it only matters how it finishes. Play well and you will be rewarded.
Thats all for me this weekend as I am traveling with mon cheri.
A bientot!
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