Well, it is finally underway, the long-awaited NFL Draft days. Three days of people gnashing teeth, cheering, crying, cursing, and praising their team’s choices. It’s a great time to be alive! Anyway, I like the draft, look forward to it, but I am more interested in how the picks will help my chosen teams. So far, through three rounds, the Vikings, Eagles, Rams, and Cardinals are doing ok, nothing earth-shattering, but they should be fine. The Bengals……I don’t really care, but it seems….uh….less than stellar, but I could be wrong because of my Mike Brown bias.
One story is striking, though, that is Colorado quarterback Shedeur Sanders fell past the 3rd round. Shedeur, the son of Hall of Fame Corner “NEON DEION” Sanders, was a sure-fire, can’t miss, falling no farther than #3 to the Giants, first-round pick. After 3 FULL ROUNDS and 96 players picked, he is still on the board! What Happened?? How could the second coming of quarterbacks fall so far? We have seen nothing like this since Aaron Rogers slipped to 26th in the first round, and he is a sure-fire Hall of Famer! I have a theory, and I would bet behind closed doors, I am right about this young man. I harbor him no ill will, but I think a good talking to might have helped him. Talent is a lot…..but attitude means everything!
Watching the draft, all the “experts” were stunned he is falling so far. All say he has the arm strength, talent, and smarts to be an NFL quarterback, so why is he still around? Why have 5 other Quarterbacks, some a lot less known, been taken before him? How many of you had heard of Louisville Quarterback Tyler Shough taken by the Saints in the second round? Not many, I am sure, yet he is now on a professional football team, and Shedeur the chosen is not. WHY?
Today, you are starting to hear mumblings of what I was sure the problem was. Now, the “experts” won’t EVER admit it, but I could see an immediate problem with him right away, and I am by far no expert! His attitude, demeanor, and sense of privilege killed him in his one-on-one interviews. I am hearing that he had made some bad interviews, maybe even demanded some things, and tried to tell coaches what was needed. Not a very humble start for a kid in a weak quarterback class, anyway, that he should have dominated.
But, a little like his father, he thinks he is better than he is. Don’t get me wrong, Dion was a great player, and a coach trying to steer kids the right way. He learned. When he was younger, he was much cockier than he is now, but he could back it up. Shedeur was a GOOD quarterback in college, not GREAT! I have heard this morning some are saying he may have come off too strong on some coaches and owners, and the last thing they want is a prima donna destroying the team. I had the same fear of Caleb Williams, but he may be learning the hard way, too. I hope he succeeds.
I don’t want any of them to fail, but sometimes you just need the cockiness kicked out of you, and the NFL is the perfect place for it! Veterans will teach him real quick just how unimportant he is in their lives!
Now that the truth is starting to emerge, it always does, maybe this is a lesson for other young athletes in college. The lesson is to stay humble and respect the game, coaches, and others who are just as important as you. Learn as much as you can from the ones who have been there, and realize in real life, you are no more important than anyone else, no matter how good YOU think you are. Fewer than 2% of college athletes turn pro in their sport, so just feel fortunate that God gave you the talent to play your sport, any sport, at the college level, because that is as high as most will go.
Sports are a humbling experience, and Shedeur Sanders is finding that out. Right now, he is in the territory of being a backup in the NFL, a huge slap down from where he thought he would be. Maybe this will be a good life lesson for him. I hope so. I wonder why his agent, or father, never told him to be humble? Maybe he did, but he didn’t listen. So, from some old fat guy who played college ball, and who learned the lesson that it is no more important than anything else, if I were his agent, I would have said, respectfully, ‘SHEDEUR…..SHUT UP AND LISTEN! You aren’t as good as you think you are, and you are gonna learn that the hard way!
That may be harsh, but that is what he might need. That may have saved him the embarrassment he will hear for the next few months as the “experts” will badger him with questions about why he fell so far. Tough time, but I hope he learns, and I hope the “experts” realize they’re not that smart either!
That’s the way I see it……..from the sidelines!
