Here we go…
The first round of the 2025 NFL Draft is in the books, and Colorado quarterback Shedeur Sanders is still waiting to find out where he’s going to be playing in the NFL.
Sanders has gotten by far the most attention in a quarterback class that didn’t have any real superstars like it has in years past. Despite only leading the Buffaloes to a 13-11 during his two seasons at Colorado, Sanders recently had his number retired by the school and has been one of the most talked-about players in the draft.
Sanders was at one point expected to be a top five draft pick, with teams like the Titans, the Las Vegas Raiders, the New York Giants, the New Orleans Saints and the Pittsburgh Steelers all in the market for a new quarterback.
But the son of Colorado coach Deion Sanders seemed to see his draft stock drop after the NFL Combine, when there were rumors that coaches saw him as “arrogant” and unprofessional during his interviews with teams.
One anonymous assistant coach even reportedly said that his interview with the team was the worst he’s ever seen:
“He’s so entitled. He takes unnecessary sacks. He never plays on time. He has horrible body language. He blames teammates. … But the biggest thing is, he’s not that good.”
And on draft night, Sanders sat in his custom-built draft room all night just to watch the teams that were thought to be interested in him go in another direction.
The Tennessee Titans selected Miami quarterback Cam Ward with the #1 overall pick, though you wouldn’t know it if you were watching ESPN because they spent the entire pick talking about Sanders instead. One by one, the teams in need of a QB like the Giants, the Saints and the Raiders chose not to use their first round pick on a QB. And the Steelers, who were thought to be the most likely landing spot for Sanders, pulled a bit of a surprise move by instead drafting defensive tackle Derrick Harmon of Oregon.
With the rest of the teams pretty set at QB, that meant that Sanders would likely fall out of the first round – until the New York Giants traded back into the first round, a not-unexpected move when two of the best QBs in the draft were still on the board.
And the Giants did indeed get their quarterback with the 25th pick – but it was Jaxson Dart from Ole Miss, leaving Sanders without a landing spot in the first round of the draft.
The internet quickly erupted, mocking the cocky quarterback for not only falling out of the top 5, but out of the first round entirely. Even his father Deion got hit with a community note on Twitter after previously guaranteeing that Shedeur would be a top 5 pick.
Of course in the wake of Sanders falling out of the first round there were plenty of takes on what happened that caused his draft stock to crumble. But many people bizarrely blamed racism (because of course they did) for Sanders not going on night 1.
Now, to point out the obvious: The #1 overall pick was black, and ESPN completely ignored him. In fact, 25 of the 32 players taken on night one were black, and 70% of the players in the NFL are black, including both starting quarterbacks in this year’s Super Bowl and 15 of the 32 quarterbacks who started week 1 of the 2024 season.
But apparently, the NFL is racist for passing on Sanders.
And one of those critics was former congressman Jamaal Bowman, who represented New York’s 16th district until losing in the 2024 Democrat primary after making headlines a few months earlier for pulling the fire alarm in the US Capitol while attempting to delay a vote.
Bowman took to social media for a 10-minute long rant about Sanders dropping in the draft, claiming that “America continues to fear strong black men” and that the NFL doesn’t like Sanders because he “wears gold chains and talks like a rapper.”
Yeah, no other players in the NFL who wear gold chains or talk like rappers. Hell, Sanders’ teammate Travis Hunter was gifted a $30k Rolex before being taken at #2 by the Jacksonville Jaguars. Pretty sure nobody had a problem with him being too flashy.
It’s also pretty insulting to Cam Ward to claim that teams weren’t afraid of him like they were Sanders, which implies that Ward isn’t a “strong black man.” The Titans are counting on him to turn their franchise around, so they’re no doubt praying that he’s a strong black man and a leader of the team for years to come.
There were likely a lot of reasons that Sanders dropped in the draft. But it’s hard to look objectively at the NFL, and what happened last night in the draft, and claim that racism was one of them.
