Former Colorado Buffaloes quarterback Shedeur Sanders, drafted in the fifth round of the NFL Draft after being projected to be a Top 3 pick, impressed football fans with a great performance in his first preseason game as a starter for the Cleveland Browns.
Suggested Reading
The son of NFL great Deion Sanders had stats that make him worthy of a starting job in the NFL, as evidenced by a game against the Carolina Panthers, on the road, no less, where he led his team to a 30-10 victory. According to NFL.com, the rookie threw two touchdowns, while completing 14 of 32 passes for 138 yards, also running for 19 yards with ZERO turnovers. Not bad for any first-year player, definitely impressive for someone who fell to the fifth round and was the 144th player selected.
“I’ma be honest, I wasn’t nervous or have too much adrenaline, it was just getting comfortable,” Sanders said after the victory. “That’s all it is. There’s plenty games before where I was nervous, but I felt like I knew the answers to the test. So, when you feel unprepared, then you don’t feel ready for the moment. I know I’m ready for the moment. Did I play up to par? No, I don’t feel like I did. But overall, the main goal was to win and that’s honestly what we did.”
Questions surrounded the reason Shedeur wasn’t picked as high as predicted, with rumors that it was based on his father stating he wouldn’t go to teams he didn’t want to play for. However, in the past, other players had done the same thing with no ramifications on their selection. Former New York Giant quarterback Eli Manning is an example. When he was entering the draft, his white father, Archie, stated he wouldn’t go to any team Eli won’t play for, yet his son was never penalized for it. Rumors had been going around that NFL owners were sending a message to Deion, a Black former NFL player, that the owners would make the move and that a Black man would not dictate where his Black son would go to play.
But, football fans, even white ones, did not like that a talent like Shedeur was being “blackballed.”
The controversy has enveloped around Shedeur being picked so late that many sports figures, analysts and experts took to social media to not only praise the young player, but to put doubt to speculation that Shedeur was not deserving of being picked in the first round and that he has already shown that he is better than the majority of players selected before him.
Ohio hometown hero, NBA superstar LeBron James, was one of the loudest voices on social media.
Proud father, Deion, chimed in without using many words.
Veteran sports analyst Skip Bayless was impressed with Shedeur’s performance.
Former Dallas Cowboys great Emmett Smith commented as well.
Former NFL player Robert Griffin III gave his thoughts to the naysayers.
Straight From 
Sign up for our free daily newsletter.