The elephant in Shedeur Sanders’ draft room — Andscape

As Shedeur Sanders sank further and further in the NFL draft, I noticed an inconvenient topic bubbling beneath the surface. TV analysts skirted it, top football writers danced around it, but the subject dominated conversations over the weekend in my text messages, face-to-face conversations, phone calls and social media:

The NFL, according to the homies, wanted to “humble” Shedeur and his father, Deion Sanders. The league wanted to put these unapologetic, brash, opinionated Black men “in their place.”

That “place” ended up being – diabolically, reasonably, or somewhere in between – the fifth round of the draft, pick No. 144 by the Cleveland Browns, after four other quarterbacks had been selected. Shedeur was not considered a star talent, but he is obviously a much better player than where he was finally picked. That fact sent an obvious message to a whole lot of Black football fans, and by the end of the third round on Friday night, the homies were absolutely blowing up my phone.

At this point you might be thinking, Just who are these homies, and do they also believe that Tupac Shakur is alive and well in Cuba? That Bill Cosby was framed to stop him from buying NBC? That Beyonce and Jay Z run the Illuminati? That NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell texted the group chat: “Conditions are FAVORABLE. Just CONFIRMED w/DRAFT CENTCOM we are a GO for OPERATION DESTROY DEION”?

No, the homies ain’t sipping that truther sizzurp (although, in my opinion, the theory about crack in Crazy Horse malt liquor warrants further investigation). There are a lot of obvious reasons why Shedeur’s stock fell so drastically, ESPN draft guru Mel Kiper was practically yelling at clouds:

Shedeur did not interview well with some teams, perhaps on purpose to discourage them from picking him. Not many teams were in the quarterback market. Not many teams tolerate parents like Deion. Shedeur’s average speed and athleticism make him a projected backup in the near future, which teams don’t consider worth all the “distractions” that come with the Sanders family. The Pittsburgh Steelers are in desperate need a quarterback, they have a Black head coach in Mike Tomlin and one of the most progressive ownership families in the NFL – and they blew past Shedeur with a T.J. Watt swim move. 

Teams will tolerate “issues” if the talent is off the charts – the Browns infamously signed peak Deshaun Watson to a record-breaking quarterback contract despite dozens of sexual misconduct allegations – but Shedeur is more comparable to, say, Bo Nix than Jayden Daniels. All of the above led to an avalanche of commentary about Deion and his son learning a lesson. Which is not wrong.

And yet …

There is a long history of hatred and sometimes retribution directed at Black sports figures who are unapologetic, who defy what many consider “proper” or “respectful” behavior, who confront the status quo. Let’s not act like America hasn’t tried, and sometimes succeeded, to put these men “in their place.”

Jack Johnson, the first Black heavyweight boxing champion, was put in prison. The un-shutuppable Muhammad Ali was put out of boxing for three years. John Carlos and Tommy Smith were put out of the Olympics. Many in the media tried to put Georgetown coach John Thompson in a racist box, but he broke through by winning on the basketball court, in the classroom, and against the NCAA. 

In modern times, we have seen the NFL’s billionaire owners do things to Black quarterbacks, hidden from the view of even the most insider-est media insiders, that seemed shady. Colin Kaepernick never played football again due to his protests against police violence, even though he was clearly better than many quarterbacks in the league. The superstar Lamar Jackson got a league-wide ice-cold shoulder in free agency because owners drew a line in the sand over guaranteed money. Let’s not act like owners and franchises don’t communicate.

Deion Sanders, the Pro Football Hall of Famer and head coach at the University of Colorado, exists on this historical timeline. Not for speaking out against racial injustice, but for refusing to act like the type of respectable, mainstream, Rosa Parks, Colin Powell, Michael Jordan, Barack Obama-esque Black folks (no shade whatsoever to these greats) that have historically been permitted to succeed in American institutions.  

Starting roughly 36 years ago, when he hit the cover of Sports Illustrated looking like MC Hammer’s cousin, we saw Deion talk more ish than any athlete since Ali in his (you guessed it) prime. Deion got away with so much flaunting and boasting because he could play football like nobody before or since, while hitting home runs for the Yankees on his off days. Deion knew what came with this much arrogance: “Some people will come out to see me do well. Some people will come out to see me get run over,” he once said. “But love me or hate me, they’re going to come out.” 

The people still come out – check Colorado’s TV ratings. And a lot of people still hate – perhaps even more now than when Deion was playing, because media today is so much more manipulable (often by Deion himself) and pervasive. I’ll admit that after enjoying Deion’s player persona immensely, some of his Coach Prime act bothers me, even as I appreciate the way he mentors and loves on the guys he doesn’t boot into the transfer portal.

“They don’t pay nobody to be humble,” is one of Deion’s most famous quotes. I believe that humility is a virtue, and that the opposite of any virtue is something to be careful about. Shedeur seems like a solid young man, but some of his braggadocio feels performative or entitled, rather than earned like his pops. Yeah you nice, Shedeur, but the “Legendary” branding? After a 9-4 season? And Deion let Colorado retire your jersey already? Yikes. 

If the Black guy writing this column is occasionally irked, imagine how the NFL power structure must feel. 

Deion had already fired a shot across the bow of the NFL. In a January interview with Tamron (no relation to Cam’ron) Hall, Deion clearly stated his intention to “intervene” if Shedeur was not drafted by “the right team,” and that there were “a couple teams I won’t allow him to play for.” One of those teams, at least back in 2018, was the Cleveland Browns. 

So when Shedeur ended up in the city that Deion dissed? Of course the homies will say the NFL is putting Sanders, father and son, “in their place.” 

Adding insult to injury, the Browns used their third-round pick to draft another quarterback ahead of Shedeur, Oregon’s Dillon Gabriel, who is 5-foot-11, “lacks arm strength” and has “erratic” ball placement. And when they finally took Shedeur in the fifth round, the Browns said they got him at a “steep discount” – the ultimate humiliation for a family brand literally built on the dollar sign. 

It’s worth mentioning that Shedeur got passed over because of non-football issues while not so many years ago, two white college quarterbacks with off-the-field concerns – Baker Mayfield and Johnny Manziel – went No. 1 and No. 22 in their drafts. (Mayfield became a very good NFL player; Manziel bombed out.) Also, Deion trying to steer his son to an ideal destination was perceived much differently than former NFL quarterback Archie Manning manipulating the 2004 draft to “place” his QB son Eli with the New York Giants instead of the San Diego Chargers. 

Trying to erase history is popular these days. But history is not going anywhere. I’m glad the homies won’t let me forget it. 

I don’t think there was a conspiracy to bring the Sanders men down. There didn’t have to be. History exists for a reason. Would Shedeur have been drafted higher if he was a better player, if he was more humble, if Deion was less arrogant? For sure. Is the NFL, and our society in general, dominated by a predominantly white male power structure that often forces the vast majority of Black people to conform or get cut down? Absolutely. 

America is still that kind of place.