Shedeur’s Slide: Talent, Nepotism, Racism or Arrogance?
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In what has to be the most noteworthy news out of Green Bay, Wisconsin since, uh, the last Packers game, the 2025 National Football League Draft took place from April 24 through April 26. With a selection by one of the league’s 32 teams, players will get to live out their dreams of playing in the world’s largest sports league, and along with it comes a shot at football immortality - and, naturally, tens or even hundreds of millions of dollars. Shedeur Sanders, quarterback for the Colorado Buffaloes, was one of those prospects. And he was ranked high - the official mock draft of The Athletic projected he would be the 33rd overall pick. His father, Deion, was even higher on him, suggesting he’d be a top-five choice.
And then he waited. And waited.
Deion was right. Shedeur was selected in the top five - top five ROUNDS, at least, as he was taken 144th overall by the Cleveland Browns. What happened?
Nepotism
The Sanders name is already legendary in football. Deion had an illustrious 14-year career as a cornerback with five teams in the NFL, helped the San Francisco 49ers and Dallas Cowboys win Super Bowl XXIX and XXX, respectively, was named NFL Defensive Player of the Year in 1994, was named to 8 Pro Bowls, and was named to the NFL’s 100th Anniversary All-Time Team. Deion clearly needs no introduction.
So when his son started following in his gridiron footsteps, it caught the eyes of many. Just as eye-catching was his coach - his father. First with the Jackson State Tigers (where the Sanders duo secured two conference championships) and then with Colorado, father and son followed each other all the way. In this case, though, nepotism might not be beneficial to Shedeur. Shedeur has only ever been coached by his father - how is he going to fare without him? And will he really be without him? Though Deion is still Colorado’s football coach, it’s hard to imagine that he - with his infamously large ego - won’t stick his nose in Cleveland’s operations.
Racism
Discrimination, unfortunately, continues to play a role in the NFL. Fans will recall head coach Brian Flores’s lawsuit against the league and the Denver Broncos, New York Giants and Miami Dolphins (who had recently fired him) for discrimination in the hiring process. And in a league that’s majority Black, it’s at least weird that only 18% of coaches over the last 25 years have been Black. Fortunately, though, Shedeur’s case is not one of race. Three quarterbacks that went before Sanders - Cam Ward (Tennessee Titans), Jalen Milroe (Seattle Seahawks) and Dillon Gabriel (Cleveland Browns) are Black. The first overall pick three years running have been Black quarterbacks (Ward, Caleb Williams to the Chicago Bears and Bryce Young to the Carolina Panthers). The league, clearly, is not adverse to selecting Black quarterbacks.
Arrogance
Perhaps the most volatile - and unsure - aspect of this entire situation is Shedeur’s off-field performance. Reports claim that Shedeur did not treat the pre-draft process with the gravity it deserved. It’s questionable whether Shedeur cared enough about the “whiteboard sessions,” which detail a player’s knowledge of the inner workings of an offense. According to one anonymous NFL GM, Shedeur treated the process like he was being “recruited” to a college - implying that he believed he had leverage over teams, not the other way around. This cocksureness runs in his veins - his father walked out of a meeting with the Giants after they wanted him to take a test. But Deion could afford that - he went 5th overall to the Atlanta Falcons. Shedeur limped into the 5th round.
Talent
Arguably most critically - and the belief I cling to - maybe Shedeur just isn’t that good. Though he dominated the SWAC, once he made the move to Colorado and the upper echelon of college football, things got shakier. Shedeur often performed well - including setting the school record with 510 passing yards in his first game at Colorado - but, in many cases (especially against ranked teams, where he only secured one win in eight games), he felt flat. Although these losses were naturally not entirely—or even mostly—his fault, in the NFL, losses are usually shouldered by the quarterback. Shedeur may have found himself in this situation too frequently for teams to spring for him. A glance at the accolades of those selected above him corroborates these decisions. Cam Ward led Miami to a 13th-place finish in 2024, an effort that earned him ACC Player of the Year. Jaxson Dart, selected by the Giants, led Ole Miss to consecutive double-digit-win seasons, including a Peach Bowl victory in 2023 over Penn State, and holds the school’s all-time record for passing yards.
After rolling his ankle at Texas Tech, Tyler Shough (selected by the New Orleans Saints) was one of the Comeback Players of the Year as determined by College Sports Communicators after an eight-win season with Louisville. Even the Brown’s own Dillon Gabriel is one of only eight college quarterbacks ever to rack up 15,000 passing yards (although it’s a cheap statistic, as he played for six years). What certainly isn’t cheap is his being named Big Ten Most Valuable Player in 2024. And what does Shedeur have from his Colorado days? A Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award. Great.
Whatever the case may be, the Browns were - eventually - able to look past all of this, and Shedeur is now in Cleveland. He will have to play his hardest in a quarterback room featuring Gabriel, a Super Bowl champion - backup - quarterback in Kenny Pickett, and Joe Flacco, who, at age 40, will likely be the best among them. Shedeur may not be the happiest with his situation - as he could simply be cut in the preseason, potentially ending his career before it begins - but at least he’s not the biggest loser in this ordeal. That dishonor goes to Jax Ulbrich, son of Falcons defensive coordinator Jeff Ulbrich, who impersonated Saints general manager Mickey Loomis in a prank call that briefly made it seem like New Orleans was going to select Shedeur. Whether Shedeur will be able to look past all this and become a star, or simply fade into obscurity like countless other draft busts, is a tale that has yet to be written.