Before we move on, let’s look back at last week’s NFL draft as a cautionary tale in what happens when hype and image and arrogance trump substance.
It was a ridiculous spectacle that turned into a reality show, starring Colorado quarterback Shedeur Sanders, who was predicted by the media to be an early first-round pick and wasn’t. Not even close.
The pre-draft buildup included a statement by Sanders’ famous father, “Prime Time” Deion, saying there were some teams they would not consider and that they shouldn’t draft him or teammate Travis Hunter (There’s ”certain cities where it ain’t going to happen.”). The drama continued with Shedeur Sanders sitting inside his own custom-built draft room.
How embarrassing.
On Day 1, nobody called.
On Day 2, nobody called — well, except the mean-spirited prank call from the son of an NFL coach pretending to be the Saints GM.
On Day 3, he finally got the call saying he’d been drafted, by — who else? — the Cleveland Browns, in the fifth round, 144th overall, the second QB taken by the team. This silly business concluded with Mel Kiper — the draft “expert” — going into full rant mode because NFL coaches and GMs didn’t see the wisdom of his predictions and dared to ignore his eye for NFL talent.
NFL coaches and GMs must’ve had a good laugh in the weeks leading up to the draft when they saw Kiper and friends hyperventilate over Sanders, whose notoriety at Colorado was based largely on the attention given to his famous father and coach, Deion “Prime Time” Sanders, the former NFL great and All-Pro talker and microphone magnet.
Even after BYU exposed Sanders in the Alamo Bowl — two interceptions, four sacks, minus 34 yards rushing in a 36-14 loss — nobody seemed to take note.
Including Kiper. Nobody fed the hype machine more than this guy. He was all-in on Sanders as a high first-rounder. When that didn’t happen, Kiper threw a tantrum.
“All I can say is, I think it’s disgusting,” he said. ”I don’t understand what the heck’s going on with this. Fifth player on my boards, never happened before in 47 years where a player that high has dropped this far into the fourth round at quarterback.”
Well, actually that isn’t true. In 1995, Kiper predicted that BYU quarterback John Walsh would be taken in the first round. Walsh left school a year early, thinking his future was clear. He wasn’t drafted until the seventh and final round, the 213th player taken overall, by the Bengals. He was quickly cut from the team and never played football again. At least one BYU coach blamed Kiper in part for luring Walsh out of his senior year.
But we digress. Returning to Kiper’s rant:
“(Sanders was) sitting there at round four, with other quarterbacks being taken who aren’t as good as Shedeur. Aren’t even close, in my opinion, in terms of accuracy, toughness. Arm strength is certainly more than good enough. Outside of not (having) the rocket arm, the 4.6 speed, and the big frame, the 6-foot-3 230-pound frame, what is he lacking? Somebody is going to have to explain that one to me.”
Well, Mel, here’s the explanation. Apparently, you’re not as smart as you think you are, and, strangely enough, your opinion means nothing to NFL general managers and coaches.
Sports Illustrated’s Albert Breer wrote a story entitled “An Honest Discussion About Shedeur Sanders,” starting with something he published before the draft: “ … It wasn’t easy to find coaches or scouts who viewed the Colorado quarterback as a first-round talent coming into the draft. He’s not a great athlete. He didn’t show great arm talent. He had bad habits in taking unnecessary sacks, and bailing out of the back of the pocket. He had trouble playing on time in general and did things off-schedule that weren’t going to translate to the NFL.” (It was also reported that one NFL coach told Breer that Sanders would “be a sixth-round pick” if he weren’t the son of Pro Football Hall of Famer and Colorado head coach Deion Sanders).
If you believe Kiper’s rant, the NFL coach was dead wrong.
Then there was Tom Plissero of the NFL Network. He reported that one anonymous NFL assistant coach said this about Sanders before the draft: “The worst formal interview I’ve ever been in in my life. He’s so entitled. He takes unnecessary sacks. He never plays on time. He has horrible body language. He blames teammates. But the biggest thing is, he’s not that good.”
Then there was Merrill Hoge, the former Steelers running back and TV analyst, who said before the draft that Sanders would be “an epic failure” in the NFL if he were taken in the first round. Much was made of Sanders’ nation-leading completion rate of 74%, but as Hoge (and others) have noted, this was highly misleading. Last season, Sanders had 168 passing attempts that were on or behind the line of scrimmage — that’s 35% of his passes. He threw a lot of bubble screens, an easy throw.
Hoge, by the way, also predicted before the 2014 draft that Johnny Manziel (a first-round pick) would be a bust.
“You’re not going to throw 50% of your bubble screens and survive in the NFL,” Hoge told a Pittsburgh radio station. “ … (Colorado says) their offensive line was bad and so that’s why they did those things, but if your quarterback is good, you can run everything.”
He also said this about comparisons to recent first-round quarterbacks such as CJ Stroud, Jayden Daniels and Joe Burrow: “He ain’t even close, he ain’t even in the same ballpark.”
Breer, the insightful SI reporter, noted that during combine meetings teams will show a prospect his worst play and ask him to explain it. When Sanders was asked to explain one of his interceptions, Breer wrote, “Sanders didn’t take the blame. And as they dove deeper into it, and how it might relate to the NFL level, Sanders simply concluded that maybe he and the staff he was talking to might not be a match.”
In the end, a lot of teams felt the same way about him. They also likely wanted no part of the Deion “Prime Time” sideshow.
A few days after the 2025 draft concluded, Kiper, who correctly predicted 11 of the 32 first-round picks last week (and saw six of his first-round predictions fall to a later round), was back on the job. He offered his predictions for the top quarterbacks that will be taken in the 2026 draft.
