Former Colorado quarterback Shedeur Sanders was projected in several mock drafts to be a top-three selection for parts of the offseason, but leading up to the event itself, there were some projections that he would slide in the rankings. Sanders ended up sliding to the fifth round of the NFL Draft and was selected No. 144 overall by the Cleveland Browns, something that those in the sports world are referring to as an unprecedented fall in the proceedings. Former NFL tight end and WEEI radio host Jermaine Wiggins was cognizant of why he fell but did not understand how he moved that far down into the order.
On the Monday edition of The Greg Hill Show, the program played audio of ESPN senior NFL Draft analyst Mel Kiper Jr. discussing Sanders. Commentary from Kiper over the weekend went viral on social media with users perceiving him as having outbursts with Sanders, who he ranked as his No. 1 quarterback prospect in the Draft, sliding to the fifth round. Within his discourse, Kiper explained that there would not be a circus with Sanders and that he would galvanize his teammates. Furthermore, he concluded that Sanders would enter the league with a chip on his shoulder and be more motivated than ever.
“His dad earned the right to be Prime Time, to act the way he acted,” Hill said. “I think there are probably NFL teams and others who don’t think that Shedeur, just because of his name, has earned that right.”
As people connected with the teams around the league try to extrapolate the rationale behind Sanders moving to the fifth round after being widely projected as being a first-round selection, executive producer Curtis Scheim commented on the situation. Certain quarterbacks being drafted ahead of Sanders, he explained, was “asinine” and indicative of “stupidity.”
“I understand why he fell, I just don’t understand how and why he fell that far,” Wiggins said earlier in the segment. “Whether it was Dylan Gabriel, whether it was Jalen Milroe – I will say this. All those NFL mock draft people, it basically shows that no one knows what they’re talking about because no one had Shedeur going [there].”
Wiggins conjectured that there were “some type of shenanigans done” to have Sanders go in the fifth round. Moreover, he explained that he could agree with Hill if Sanders had been chosen in the second or third round, but getting past the fourth round and having other players go ahead of him was somewhat confounding. A caller then provided their perspective as a former hiring manager who worked in high tech and compared the NFL to Disneyland for high-end athletes. Although his industry is different from professional sports, he voiced that managers do not want headaches with their employees but rather want to see people get the work done.
“I agree with you that that did affect him, but that shouldn’t affect him to the point where you completely slide all the way to the fifth round because there’s been plenty of issues with guys at the Combine,” Wiggins said. “There’s been plenty of issues with guys at the Combine, yeah and it affects them a little bit.
“They might fall a couple — they might go from the top of the first to the bottom of the first or even into the second round, but the fact that he fell [that far]. Even at the end when people are like, ‘Oh, he’ll probably go in the twenties,’ and we were like, ‘Wow, that’s a drop for Shedeur,’ but to go in the fifth round behind some of these [others].”
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