NFL is Shedeur Sanders’ first major hill to climb

Why did Shedeur Sanders fall in the NFL draft? The University of Colorado star quarterback and the son Pro Football Hall of Famer Deion Sanders was overlooked on the first two days of the NFL draft before the Cleveland Browns traded up to select him in the fifth round (144th overall) on Saturday.

This is not a situation I had anticipated, nor was it the subject of a column I expected to write.

The answer? Who knows? Perhaps young Sanders is being humbled by powers that be who do not like his swagger. On the other hand, perhaps he simply is not the great prospect many of us thought he was.

This much is certain: Shedeur was one of the most significant college players in recent college history and for the past four years he, his father and teammate Travis Hunter were part of one of the greatest stories in college football.

Nothing that has happened these last three days can change that.

From the very beginning and before any selections were made, I filtered this week’s NFL draft through the prism of Shedeur and his famous father. Draft day would be the final chapter of a dramatic story and journey that began at Jackson State University and continued at Colorado, where they rebuilt a major college program. With Coach Prime doing the coaching and the preaching, Shedeur doing the quarterbacking and eventual Heisman Trophy winner Hunter doing virtually everything, the Colorado rebuild became one of the great stories in college football.

From my perspective, this draft for the Sanders family was a graduation ceremony for Shedeur. Coach Prime had been Shedeur’s coach since pee wee football, through high school and then college. Thursday’s draft would be the final farewell, the handoff as Shedeur headed to the NFL, perhaps among the first five players chosen.

Then came the curveball. Shedeur was not only not drafted in the top five, he was not selected on the first day of the draft. This was an upset, a stunning turn of events. What I framed as a graduation ceremony — a father saying goodbye to his son — became one of the most humiliating evenings of his son’s athletic life

Not only was he not drafted on Day 1, but he was not drafted on Day 2 either and two other quarterbacks (Alabama’s Jalen Milroe, selected by the Seattle Seahawks, and Oregon’s Dillon Gabriel, also picked by Cleveland) were drafted ahead of him on Friday. Throughout the evening, cameras checked in on Shedeur’s draft party in Canton, Texas, where there was nervous optimism. By the end of the evening, there was disappointment which justified the decision to stay put rather than travel to Green Bay. Better to be at home surrounded by friends and family than in an empty green room.

Shedeur put on a good face with his father close by. He watched as Hunter went second overall to the Jacksonville Jaguars. Then he watched the green room empty out as offensive and defensive lineman, running backs and tight ends were drafted before him.

Shedeur was projected to go as high as No. 3 to the New York Giants or No. 9 to the New Orleans Saints. The Giants drafted Penn State linebacker Abdul Carter and the Saints drafted Texas offensive tackle Kelvin Banks Jr. As Shedeur’s slide continued, there was a chance — a hope — that he would go to the Pittsburgh Steelers and Mike Tomlin as the 21st pick of the draft. The Steelers passed and selected Oregon defensive tackle Derrick Harmon.

Then came the slaps in the face. The final blow of the evening came when the Giants traded back into the first round to get the 25th pick. Instead of choosing Sanders, the Giants chose Ole Miss quarterback Jaxson Dart. In one of several draft night posts on X, Shedeur was candid: “We all didn’t expect this, “he wrote. “Just more fuel to the fire.” The fire grew larger and more intense on Friday when Milroe was taken by Seattle and Gabriel was taken by the Browns.

So what are we to make of this?

Shedeur is not the first or last draft prospect to suffer a dramatic slide on draft day. This was a spectacular tumble in many ways because he was a pivotal appendage of the vast Coach Prime PR machine.

Perhaps we were all blinded by the hype, the drama of Shedeur’s well-documented journey from Jackson State to the bigger state in Colorado, where the triumvirate of Coach Prime, Shedeur and Hunter helped turn a fledgling program around. The relationship between Coach Prime, Shedeur and Shilo Sanders (Deion Sanders’ second-oldest son who was a safety at Colorado) became an essential and consistent part of that story. Indeed, it was gratifying to see an African American father and a big-time coach serve both roles with equanimity. It’s possible that we conflated the beauty of the story with Shedeur being a top-5 caliber draft pick.

Two Black quarterbacks (No. 1 overall pick Cam Ward out of Miami and Milroe) were drafted ahead of Shedeur. Ward had a compelling hard-luck story. He was lightly recruited out of high school and began his college career at Incarnate Word. He then transferred to Washington State and transferred again to Miami. Through the pre-draft interview process he told his story and became a favorite of the media, which pointed out his humility.

Milroe was a star at Alabama, though he was not expected to be a first-day draft pick. Despite not being projected as a Day 1 pick, Milroe attended the draft in Green Bay anyway because he wanted to experience it. Many reporters liked that and I’m sure some NFL executives liked it too. Shedeur, on the other hand, does not have a hard-luck story. Quite the opposite.

He’s quite fortunate. He loves football, but football is not a make-or-break proposition. His father is wealthy and thanks to Name, Image and Likeness (NIL) money, Shedeur is wealthy in his own right.

Whichever the case, the NFL has sent a strong message and Shedeur has a major hill to climb. He will have to climb it without being under his father’s watchful eye.

Shedeur was a star and a hero at Jackson State and Colorado. Now in the real world of the NFL, the verdict has been delivered: Teams do not see him as star. They may not even see him as a difference-maker. He will have to compete. He will have to prove that all the scouts were wrong about his limitations.

The burden of proof has never been heavier.