On Wednesday, ex-NFL star running back and Pro Football Hall of Famer Eric Dickerson reported on the Roggin & Rodney show via a “very good source” that the NFL told teams to not draft quarterback Shedeur Sanders to “make an example out of him.” He even said that someone from the league called the Cleveland Browns, who selected Sanders with a fifth-round pick (No. 144 overall), and told them not to take the ex-Colorado star.
One day later, Dan Patrick asked Albert Breer of Sports Illustrated about the rumor, and he gave his thoughts on the matter (conversation begins at 3:08 mark).
“Yeah. I always think these sorts of conspiracies are a little overdone. I don’t think there was any conspiracy here. I think it’s relatively simple what happened. I thinkthe great majority of NFL teams did not view him as a first-round prospect contrary to what had been out there for the year previous. And then I think what happens is once you get past the first round, you look at the history over over the years, not a lot of quarterbacks go in the second or third rounds…”
Early in the pre-draft process, Sanders was considered a potential No. 1 pick, perhaps in competition with Miami signal-caller Cam Ward to go first to the Tennessee Titans. Ward ultimately became the clear-cut favorite for the job, but Sanders was still seen as a first-round pick by most prognosticators, albeit at the back end by the time draft day hit. The B/R NFL Scouting Department notably had Sanders 23rd overall on its final big board and 20th in its last mock draft.
That didn’t happen, as Sanders fell all the way to No. 144, stunning many onlookers. That led to questions about what happened. In the days after draft, comments dropped from numerous sources.
“I think his dad’s involvement hurt him,” a “high-level executive” told Jarrett Bell of USA Today, referring to Pro Football Hall of Famer and Colorado head coach Deion Sanders. “Some of the things his dad said, I think that weighed on people’s minds.”
One longtime assistant coach told NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero that he interviewed very poorly before the draft, saying it was “the worst formal interview I’ve ever been in in my life.”
“He’s so entitled. He takes unnecessary sacks. He never plays on time. He has horrible body language. He blames teammates. … But the biggest thing is, he’s not that good.”
Regardless of what happened behind the scenes, Sanders fell far, and Breer had more to say.
“So, the fate of Shedeur Sanders, like I think he fell out of the first round for football reasons. I think he kept falling for everything else, right? Like for the fact that most coaches look at their backup quarterbacks and say, ‘I want you to blend into the with the furniture. I don’t want to notice that you’re even here…’
Breer also mentioned he thought that “blend into the furniture” approach for backup quarterbacks “short-circuited the careers of guys like Tim Tebow and Colin Kaepernick.” He also reiterated he didn’t think there was a “weird conspiracy” to keep Sanders out of the NFL.
Ultimately, Sanders is a Cleveland Brown, and his draft position doesn’t particularly matter anymore. He has a fresh chance to prove himself and make his mark in the NFL. Sanders won’t do that immediately, as Joe Flacco has been anointed as QB1 in Cleveland for now, but the opportunity is there for him to work his way up the depth chart down the road.
