The biggest storyline going during the NFL draft was the slide of Shedeur Sanders, who was once projected to be a first-round pick before he landed with the Cleveland Browns in the fifth round.
Everyone has tried to come up with an explanation for why that happened, with some even believing the league colluded to make him a late-round pick, which is silly.
One of the best explanations we’ve heard for Sanders’ fall in the draft comes from Raider Nation Radio Show host JT The Brick, who thinks the massive amount of attention Sanders brings with him prevented teams from taking him earlier.
“Other teams did need a quarterback and they needed backup quarterbacks to compete with the starters,” JT explained. “And that’s the reason he didn’t get drafted until the fifth round.
“Because the teams that were going to bring him in as a backup decided, ‘Nope, too much noise. Just too much noise. We don’t want to deal with it all.'”
That makes total sense.
There was always a chance Sanders wouldn’t start in Year 1, and with teams having a Day 2 or 3 grade on the Colorado product, they clearly thought the same.
While sitting on the bench, Sanders would’ve gotten more attention than the starter he sat behind, creating a circus atmosphere. And, calls from fans to insert Sanders into the lineup would have been deafening had the starter struggled.
This is a lesson the New York Jets learned when they signed Tim Tebow in 2012. The former college football star became bigger than the team and the questions about finally putting him under center were nonstop.
Of course, the Browns are now facing that type of situation, but at least they didn’t have to spend an early-to-mid-round pick on Sanders, which makes it far easier to cut the former college football star if things go south for any reason. And, it also gives the Browns a chance to get insane value if Sanders pans out.
While there’s no telling how good or bad Sanders will be, we do know things are going to be quite interesting in Cleveland with him in the building, for however long that is.
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