Passed over

After a frustrating weekend, Shedeur Sanders can still write a happy ending to his bizarre draft story.

Associated Press photo

Aside from the networks that got a juicy story, it’s hard to find a winner in Shedeur Sanders’ precipitous drop in last weekend’s NFL draft.

Certainly not Sanders, who fancied himself a top-five overall pick and eventually became the sixth quarterback selected, lasting until the third day of the proceedings.

Not the so-called experts like Mel Kiper Jr., who overestimated Sanders’ attractiveness to the pro scouts, coaches and executives in whose hands college stars’ fate lay — and protested a bit too loudly when he was proven wrong for once. Or his Hall of Fame father/coach Deion, who helped stoke that hype and may have lost a bit of credibility with NFL brass.

And definitely not the Atlanta Falcons (Deion’s first NFL team), who piled on to Sanders’ frustration when the son of one of their assistant coaches prank-called him in the midst of his despair and gave him false hope of being selected.

If anything positive comes of the debacle, it may be a humbled Shedeur Sanders who becomes laser-focused on proving his doubters wrong — or the Cleveland Browns, who may have gotten their elusive starter in the fifth round.

The entire weekend mini-series offered lessons on the hype machine and conflicting values that have kidnapped big-time college and professional sports.

It gave ESPN and the NFL Network, which televised every moment of the melodrama, a compelling story line in what was otherwise a rather uninteresting draft. There was no can’t-miss star like a Manning or a Vick, few first-round trades — and the first selection went to the Tennessee Titans, the team with arguably the league’s lowest Q rating. Plus, many casual fans might never have heard of Cam Ward, the No. 1 pick who played for three colleges.

At one point, Shedeur Sanders was considered to be Ward’s rival to go first overall. But the more the NFL scouts broke down his tape, and the more GMs and coaches talked to him, the less they seemed to like him.

It probably didn’t help that Deion Sanders hinted that he might try to manipulate his son’s draft destination, as Archie Manning did for Eli in 2004 and John Elway’s family did for him in 1983, or that Deion retired his son’s jersey number after he went 14-12 in two seasons as a starter at Colorado.

According to multiple reports, Shedeur Sanders came off as dismissive and unserious in interviews, and scouts weren’t overwhelmed by his arm strength and tendency to hold onto the ball (which, along with a porous offensive line, resulted in 94 sacks in two college seasons).

Like many young athletes, he’s also known for promoting his “brand,” which can be lucrative in the age of name, likeness and image (NIL) money. But at some point, the pros want their players to get serious.

Like Bronny James, Shedeur Sanders found that being the son of a legendary athlete is a double-edged sword. You get exposure and opportunity that most athletes can only dream of, but with them come often unreasonable expectations (both internal and external).

NFL teams will bend over backwards for generational athletes with flaws. The New York Giants overlooked Lawrence Taylor’s drug and alcohol habits because he was arguably the most impactful defensive player ever. Even the Browns, Sanders’ new team, mortgaged their future and bestowed a record contract on Deshaun Watson despite his numerous lawsuits alleging sexual misconduct against massage therapists.

Coincidentally, Sanders now has a chance to become the franchise quarterback Watson never was or will be in Cleveland. Watson is recovering from a torn Achilles tendon and is unlikely to play in 2025, leaving Sanders to battle 40-year-old Joe Flacco, former first-round disappointment Kenny Pickett and fellow rookie Dillon Gabriel for the starting job.

Ironically, despite all of last weekend’s angst, Sanders likely couldn’t have asked for a better opportunity to make a quick impact in the NFL. Like many quarterbacks, he probably could use an apprentice year (and to be coached by someone other than his father), but there’s no clear-cut starting favorite.

Cleveland has been a quarterback graveyard since the Browns returned to the NFL as an expansion team in 1999. But if the Commanders can finally find their QB1 of the future, maybe the Browns can, too.

If Sanders buckles down, tunes out the noise and harnesses his considerable talent, this story could have a happy ending after all. It’s now up to him.