When the slide was over, after he received the real call that he was finally selected in the NFL draft on Day 3, Shedeur Sanders took a plunge.
How fitting.
Sanders – chosen by the Cleveland Browns with the sixth pick of the fifth round on Saturday, 144th overall – dove into the swimming pool at his famous father’s house after experiencing the most dramatic plunge in NFL draft history.
And it was all joy.
“I’m extremely grateful for the opportunity, throughout everything,” the former Colorado quarterback said during a conference call with the Cleveland media. “I don’t ever focus on the negative or even think about the negative, because the positive happened so fast.”
So there. Sanders, pegged as a likely first-round pick when the draft began on Thursday night, took the high road in assessing the ebb and flow of his draft experience. If he is bitter about tumbling so far in the draft – and igniting so much debate to dominate the coverage of the event, as quarterbacks including Jaxson Dart, Tyler Shough and Jalen Milroe were picked ahead of him – he certainly didn’t put out that vibe.
Instead, he exhibited a glimpse of just how equipped he may be to handle adversity, with more likely coming as he tries to make it in the NFL.
“Nothing really affected me the last couple of days,” Sanders insisted. “It’s just understanding faith and that God really has me.”
Even the shameful prank phone call that he received during the draft, from some kid pretending to be New Orleans Saints GM Mickey Loomis with word that he was on the verge of being selected, seemed to roll off Sanders.
“Of course, I felt like it was a childish act,” he said. “Everybody does childish things, here and there.”
On Thursday night, when his draft night party fizzled, Sanders told supporters that being bypassed in the first round should not have happened under any circumstance. Yet as the draft unfolded and one team after another passed on him multiple times, the son of Hall of Famer Deion Sanders apparently refused to wallow in any sort of self-pity.
That’s healthy. There’s no reason to expend much energy on breaking down his draft slide. Not now. Now it’s a matter of focusing on what he can control – like being prepared to absorb coach Kevin Stefanski’s offense – while others debate exactly why so many teams in a quarterback-needy league wanted no parts of a highly-productive quarterback who last season passed for more than 4,000 yards and 37 touchdowns, while leading the NCAA with a 74% completion rate.
Sanders was the sixth quarterback drafted – and second one chosen by the Browns, who picked Dillon Gabriel from Oregon with a third-round pick.
Count me in the crowd who suspect that Sanders’ plunge in the draft was hardly about football. Not when reports that knocked Sanders was “arrogant” intensified for weeks, and rumblings about subpar interviews with NFL teams snowballed.
Of course, the decisions that each team makes in these cases – the New York Giants, who traded back into the first round to draft Dart from Ole Miss with the 25th pick, were reportedly split on their bottom-line assessment of Sanders – is their prerogative.
In time, there will be fodder for more debate about whether the same decision-makers who banked on since-discarded quarterback Daniel Jones got it right this time or blew it again. We’ll see.
Still, the “arrogant” narrative was particularly sensitive as it raised legitimate questions – especially on social media – about culture and race. Baker Mayfield, who has sparkled in his revival with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, wasn’t too “arrogant” that it prevented the Browns from choosing him No. 1 overall in 2018 – four years after Cleveland took Johnny Manziel, another white quarterback cast as high-strung with the 22nd pick overall.
Of course, it’s only conjecture to say that teams passed on Sanders because he rolls with gaudy jewelry, and even checked his designer watch during TD celebrations in the midst of games. No, Sanders doesn’t have any off-the-field conduct issues that NFL teams so often overlook or justify when it comes to certain talents, Black or white.
I’m not buying the theory that Shedeur’s slide was somehow part of a collective effort to send a message to Deion. And in a league with increasing media exposure, and with Hard Knocks shows part of the landscape with cameras behind the scenes, the theory that Sanders would generate too much attention as a backup quarterback doesn’t wash, either.
It was interesting, though, to take stock of what Browns GM Andrew Berry said about passing on Sanders, after Day 2 of the draft.
“Fit comes into play,” Berry said.
The next day, Berry drafted Sanders – although by the looks of the video from the Browns war room, the GM’s body language projected as the least-enthused in the room.
Nonetheless, Sanders is no ordinary fifth-round rookie as he lands with a franchise that has struggled for decades to secure its long-term answer at quarterback. He’ll join a quarterback room led by aging vet Joe Flacco and including former Pittsburgh Steelers first-rounder Kenny Pickett along with Gabriel. At least that’s a shot, and a decent opportunity to ultimately compete for the job. The picture doesn’t include DeShaun Watson, who is rehabbing from a torn Achilles tendon on top of the alleged sexual assault scandal that derailed his career.
Said Berry: “You have to come in and work and you have to come in and compete. That’s the message. Nothing’s given. It really doesn’t matter where you are picked, it’s what you do from that point forward. Because that’s the reality for all the guys we selected this weekend.”
It’s not how you start. The NFL has enough prime examples of that theme. Tom Brady was a sixth-round pick who became the GOAT with seven Super Bowl rings. Kurt Warner is a Hall of Famer who wasn’t drafted. Dak Prescott was a fourth-round pick. Two-time NFL MVP Lamar Jackson was the fifth quarterback drafted in his class, when some thought he’d be better off switching positions.
Now Sanders can get on with this NFL journey.
“What fuels me is my purpose in life and understanding the route we’re going to take,” he said.
Still, there should be no shortage of motivation in proving some teams wrong.
“There’ll be this huge chip on his shoulder,” Denver Broncos coach Sean Payton predicted after Sanders wasn’t picked on the first two days. Payton, whose first-round rookie last year, Bo Nix, was also the sixth quarterback drafted, first saw Sanders play in junior high school in the Dallas area and has followed him since.
“Beware,” Payton added, “because this guy is going to play in this league.”
Sanders has long promoted the “legendary” theme as part of his personal brand. Well, it would be just that if he ultimately rises from this point to achieve NFL greatness.
It’s no wonder that one of Sanders’ new teammates, Browns cornerback Denzel Ward, tweeted this encouraging message to the rookie, shortly after the pick came down: “Time to Be Legendary! Let’s do it!”
After all, there’s more to be written with this script.
Follow Jarrett Bell on social media: @JarrettBell