I was determined to stay out of the ruckus caused when Shedeur Sanders was not only not chosen among the top few picks in the NFL Draft but also fell to the 5th round, in danger of not being selected at all. Sanders was among the most accurate of all college quarterbacks, having played six games in which he completed over 75% of his attempts.
In the weeks leading up to the draft, every sports show ran segments about where Shedeur would go, some imagining he might be the #1 selection. We heard about what a good fit he would be with the Pittsburgh Steelers or the New York Giants. He was far more accurate than the ultimate #1 pick, Cam Ward of the University of Miami. He had one statistic listed as a weakness: the number of sacks he took while working behind a weak offensive line. That sounds like an easily fixable situation; you can teach someone to get rid of the ball or, hopefully, you provide better protection. Accuracy cannot be taught.
Rumors started spreading in the days before the draft that Sanders might slide. There were leaks about his desire not to go to certain teams and “bad interviews.” A common theme emerged after the draft when Sanders was the 144th pick: he was “entitled.” There was a collective wisdom about how Sanders needed to handle himself to fit in. One article suggested he might be cut by the Cleveland Browns, who did select him, even before the start of the season.
Two things became clear during the three days of the draft. The first thing was that NFL owners conspired not to select Sanders. Of the 32 NFL teams, the principal or majority owner of 28 is a white male billionaire. Billionaire white women own another two teams; a Pakistani American billionaire owns the Jacksonville Jaguars. The final team, the Green Bay Packers, is a public corporation whose status is grandfathered. The NFL bylaws block any additional corporate ownership. The almost exclusively billionaire white boys club decided Sanders and those like him needed to be humbled. They could afford to deny themselves of Sanders’ talent, at the end of the day, they would still be billionaires, so how bad could life be?
The second thing is that it was about race. Arrogance in an NFL quarterback is almost a prerequisite for the job. NFL defenses would soon exploit any shortage of confidence. The NFL is full of prima donnas at the quarterback position, which is often considered a leadership trait. You can’t convince others to believe they are great while doubting yourself. If you don’t think the NFL collectively would conspire against a Black man, I would remind you of Colin Kaepernick.
What the NFL collectively didn’t like that a young Black man was so damned uppity. The seeds were sown for his draft day disaster when he flashed his expensive watch to students at the University of Colorado, a program he and Travis Hunter raised from obscurity. After beating Arizona State in a game in 2023, Sanders put on his watch, ran to the student section, and flexed his $70,000 Audemars Piguet Royal Oak 15500 to the crowd.
Some suggest Sanders deserved a comeuppance for wanting some teams not to choose him. The same vitriol didn’t extend to John Elway, who refused to play for the Baltimore Colts and forced a trade to the Denver Broncos. Eli Manning blasted the San Diego Chargers before and after they chose him, eventually getting a trade to the New York Giants. Jim Kelly went to the USFL for two years after refusing to play for the Buffalo Bills. He reluctantly went to Buffalo after the USFL folded. None of them almost didn’t get drafted because they were “entitled.”
When Shedeur Sanders came along he was entitled, a code word in this case for uppity. The billionaire boys club decided to teach this Negro a lesson in humility. Pittsburgh continues to be held hostage by Aaron Rodgers as they refused to pick Sanders. There are several teams desperate for a quarterback with Sanders’ talent, yet they chose to send a message instead.
Falling in the draft will cost Sanders over $throughout his rookie contract. He made that much in NIL money his senior year in college, hence the expensive watch and a luxury car collection, including a $350,000 Rolls-Royce Cullinan. NFL owners have given Sanders the motivation to prove them all wrong; his next contract is going to cost them.
The NFL combine and draft are as close to a slave market as any professional sport in America. Players work out, get physicals, are measured, and are made to show how strong and fast they are, except in a few cases. All this to have no choice as to the city where they work and live, and which owner they will work for. The average NFL career is a few years, and many retire hobbled, some with brain injuries.
We are reminded, with Shedeur Sanders as a prome example, that an uppity Black man is still unacceptable in America. NFL owners taught Shedeur Sanders a lesson. It was a lesson not lost on all Black men.
—
This post was previously published on The Polis.
***
You may also like these posts on The Good Men Project:
 White Fragility: Talking to White People About Racism |
 Escape the “Act Like a Man” Box |
 |
 |
Join The Good Men Project as a Premium Member today.
All Premium Members get to view The Good Men Project with NO ADS.
A $50 annual membership gives you an all access pass. You can be a part of every call, group, class and community.
A $25 annual membership gives you access to one class, one Social Interest group and our online communities.
A $12 annual membership gives you access to our Friday calls with the publisher, our online community.
Register New Account
Need more info? A complete list of benefits is here.
—
Photo credit: 2C2K Photography, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
I can understand how this was interpreted by the author but I am open to another point of view. A quarterback is a team leader. Shedeur’s behavior leading up to the draft did not exhibit a respect for “team” nor the character of a “leader”. Rather it showed a sense of entitlement not uncommon to his generation (Gen Z), very much apart from race. Through my career I always looked to hire someone eager to prove themselves before looking at someone who wanted to show me how successful he/she already was. Ambition, with a sense of humility is an attractive… Read more »