TAKE THAT, DEION: SHEDEUR SANDERS ACTED LIKE A BRAT AND WASN’T DRAFTED
The NFL dislikes his brashness and didn't let Coach Prime bamboozle teams, with concerns about his son’s mobility and arm strength falling short of a promise to “change the franchise or the culture"
The only privilege in the NFL is meeting the owner who pays your salary. Otherwise, the entire league has told Shedeur Sanders and his father to shove their NIL riches up their Colorado flatiron peaks. It’s clear why one AFC executive said Deion’s son “makes you feel small,” and why an NFC assistant coach said he is “entitled” after “the worst formal interview I’ve ever been in.”
The word was out. Do not draft Sanders in the first round or he might disrupt your franchise. Once considered the elite quarterback in this year’s class, he exasperated teams with brashness straight from the Deion playbook. The Pittsburgh Steelers, still waiting foolishly for Aaron Rodgers, drafted 21st on Thursday night. They passed and selected defensive tackle Derrick Harmon, meaning Sanders would slide to the second round in a trickle that exposes his lack of mobility and mediocre arm strength.
This was a harsh shot at Coach Prime. He can entertain and rip other coaches and ridicule media people, but he can’t bamboozle pro experts into thinking Shedeur is an immediate star. A team will select him Friday evening. Until then, some of us will ask about the $40,000 watch — Audemars Piguet Royal Oak 15500 — that he showed off to opposing players before games. Or the $200,000 Maybach he drove to school. Or the rap song, “Perfect Timing,’’ that he recorded and played after touchdowns.
He is the first victim of the Name, Image and Likeness Age. From here on, he is an underdog. Don’t tell his father, who had the vigor to play football and baseball at once. Deion and Shedeur were at a Texas party that went sour, especially after the New York Giants traded back into the first round and selected Jaxson Dart with the 25th choice. Cam Ward, once considered overweight and unrecruitable in high school, was picked first by the Tennessee Titans. Even Travis Hunter, who won the Heisman Trophy, was taken No. 2 when the Jacksonville Jaguars traded up with Cleveland to draft the dual-threat artist.
Shedeur? He has been punked. Bosses don’t want to deal with Deion, on the phone every week, and they don’t want to deal with his son.
“We all didn't expect this, of course. But I feel like with God, anything is possible — everything is possible,” Shedeur said on social media, addressing people attending the bash. “I don't feel like this happened for no reason. All this is, of course, fuel to the fire. Under no circumstance — we all know this shouldn't have happened. But we understand, we're on to bigger and better things. Tomorrow's the day. We're gonna be happy.”
Why does he think the outcome shouldn’t have happened? He lacked humility, such as when Sanders spoke of Pittsburgh’s receivers. “I like George Pickens and DK Metcalf. So, whatever that means for whoever is listening,” he said, apparently forgetting coach Mike Tomlin and owner Art Rooney II were among the “whoever.” At the league combine, he lost supporters with arrogant comments about vastly improving his next team.
“If that's not what you're trying to do, don't (pick) me,” he said. “If you ain't trying to change the franchise or the culture, don't (pick) me. You should know history repeats itself over and over and over, and I've done it over and over. So it should be no question.”
No question? A son and a father had made winners of Jackson State and Colorado, but why would the Giants or Steelers or New Orleans Saints leap at him? Yes, Sanders completed 71.8 percent of his career passes but was sacked 92 times. Too dangerous, right? “You think I'm worried about what critics say or what people have to say? You know who my dad is?” he said. “They hate on him, too. You don't think I could come to an NFL franchise and change the program again?”
He didn’t appear in Green Bay, where 250,000 Cheeseheads will attend the three-day draft. He didn’t want to sit in the joker’s seat, where Rodgers and Dan Marino waited too long. His father kept track of analysts, including Dan Orlovsky, and responded to a fan who said the ESPN panelist had “turned into a hater. Hate to see it, man.”
“Yes he did! Wow,” Deion wrote.
If Coach Prime is smart, he’ll sit with Shedeur and provide answers. Tom Brady wasn’t picked until the sixth round, at pick No. 199, and don’t be shocked if Brady and the Las Vegas Raiders take Sanders with the 37th selection. But maybe someone prefers Jalen Milroe, who remains available.
Hunter will start at wide receiver with the Jaguars, who will ease him in as a great cornerback. “There are players that you can target and acquire who alter the trajectory of a game … and alter the trajectory of a football team,” new general manager James Gladstone said. "There are very few, and it's rare to target and prioritize a player who can alter the sport itself. And Travis is somebody that we view has the potential to do that. Obviously, there's a lot for him to learn as he steps into the NFL, but we view him through the lens of unique, and it's exciting for us to be able to add someone to this organization who by being nothing more than who he is, elevates the space around him.”
Massive words. The Browns will face pressure if Hunter excels. “There's no pressure for me,” he said. "I just have to go out there and do my job, be Travis Hunter. They did everything they could to come get me. Now, I've got to do everything I could to help win and help the organization.”
He will play on both sides of the ball. Sanders will be a backup. “One thing I learned is to not really care about anybody’s opinion but those around us who matter,” he said.
Deion cares, but he’s no longer the head coach. Hunter cares, but he’s no longer the receiver and defensive back. Goodwill must take over Shedeur’s psyche.
Sell the Maybach. Give the watch to a pawn dealer. Make the next interview the best, not the worst. In any language, Shedeur is known as “a field of light.”
So was Neon Deion. Maybe it’s time to abandon him, too.
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Jay Mariotti, called “without question the most impacting Chicago sportswriter of the past quarter-century,’’ writes general sports columns for Substack while appearing on some of the 1,678,498 podcasts and shows in production today. He is an accomplished columnist, TV panelist and talk/podcast host. Living in Los Angeles, he gravitated by osmosis to film projects.