Shedeur Sanders comes with baggage, and none of that’s of his personal volition. The NFL Scouting Mix kicks off in Indianapolis this week, and whereas there’s little question this can be a weak draft at quarterback, Sanders nonetheless finds himself as QB1 on a majority of huge boards. Now it’s nearly cementing that place, and it’s right here the place issues get very, very muddy.
Opinions on Sanders vacillate between ridiculous extremes. These state that the Colorado quarterback will both enter the NFL and redefine the league, or he’s going to be the most important bust within the final decade – and there’s no room for wiggle within the center. That’s essentially the most infuriating a part of discussing Shedeur, as a result of he really falls between this spectrum. There’s nothing to point he’s going to be horrible. Sanders bodily has all of the instruments, there aren’t any off-field considerations about him, and he’s typically been credited for having a peerless work ethic.
Concurrently there are some clear points right here too. Sanders doesn’t have elite arm power, nor has he proven velocity to scream the ball into tight home windows. As well as, regardless of having stable NFL measurement, Shedeur typically performed small, responding to imagined strain when not within the shotgun, and bailing on performs too early. That is partially as a consequence of Colorado’s abysmal offensive line, nevertheless it’s additionally a trait that doesn’t bode properly for his future within the NFL.
When taken in totality there’s a really particular ceiling to Shedeur Sanders. He merely doesn’t have the instruments to be one of many NFL’s finest quarterbacks, however that doesn’t imply he’s going to be dangerous both. If his ceiling within the league is somebody like Tua Tagovailoa, who’s extraordinarily correct, however lacks elite arm power, making him scheme dependent – then that’s sufficient to win within the NFL. Whether or not or not that’s value a High 5 decide within the NFL Draft is one other story, and one thing groups might want to decide on.
There’s no level mincing phrases. The most important downside with Shedeur Sanders as a prospect is Deion Sanders. Soccer’s king of promoting and self-promotion, Prime Time casts a shadow over his son that’s troublesome to flee. When Deion seems on TV saying he has no downside pulling an Eli Manning and stopping a workforce from drafting Shedeur, positive, a part of that’s simply fatherly concern – nevertheless it’s additionally a pink flag when Shedeur actually isn’t ready to name his personal photographs. Each Eli Manning and John Elway have been coveted No. 1 decide locks after they threw their weight round pre-draft, whereas there’s a really actual probability Shedeur is the QB2 behind Miami’s Cam Ward – and that wouldn’t occur if not for Deion Sanders.
The opposite ingredient is that some members of the media are merely frightened of incurring the wrath of Deion Sanders. Previously he’s confirmed to be petty with reporters who don’t serve his agenda, and whether or not or not Colorado is nice is immaterial. Deion has made the workforce one of many greatest storylines in faculty soccer, and reporters stroll on eggshells because of this – frightened of being lower off from tales.
This makes it okay to lift an eyebrow and query when studies are written like this, which sound like crib notes straight from a sports activities agent.
“He’ll permit his 4 years of movie to talk loudly” is the most important eye-roll possible, even when it’s technically true. You merely don’t hear about different prospects getting this identical stage of deference in the case of not throwing — and we have now the receipts from one 12 months in the past. Discover how totally different the wording is when it got here to Jayden Daniels, who gained the rattling Heisman and had a stronger resume.
#LSU QB Jayden Daniels, one of many NFL Draft’s prime QBs, plans to throw at his Professional Day quite than the NFL Mix, sources say. He’ll be in Indy for interviews and conferences, however not work out. pic.twitter.com/nci8RXI9Kr
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) February 26, 2024
The entire state of affairs makes it troublesome to fully purchase in to Shedeur Sanders. It’s like doing your personal analysis on shopping for a automobile, selecting it, you then get such a tough promote on the dealership that you just begin to get the ick and your toes go chilly for no good cause. It’s abundantly clear that Deion and his workforce are working behind the scenes to bolster Shedeur’s draft inventory, which in comprehensible, however we’re not even in Indy but and that is going to far.
This course of will proceed. Sanders goes to get constructed up for the remainder of this week and into the following till we’re always being informed he’s a can’t-miss, Andrew Luck stage prospect — as a result of that’s the plan for him. The pushback to this hyperbole shall be to model him as a bust, and as soon as extra we have now a very good participant (although not nice), caught within the center unfairly.
One of the best factor you are able to do as a soccer fan is watch the movie your self. Minimize out the noise. See the respectable execs and cons to Sanders as a quarterback and formulate an opinion from there — as a result of proper now there’s a whole lot of funding stepping into to swaying public opinion and hoping it trickles as much as entrance workplaces.