The Shedeur Sanders draft-day slide was a big story. Big enough to make it into Monday’s briefing from White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt.
It wasn’t a complete surprise, given that President Donald Trump chimed after the first round of the draft regarding the failure of Sanders to be selected in the first round.
Said the President, on his social-media platform: “What is wrong with NFL owners, are they STUPID? Deion Sanders was a great college football player, and was even greater in the NFL. He’s also a very good coach, streetwise and smart! Therefore, Shedeur, his quarterback son, has PHENOMENAL GENES, and is all set for Greatness. He should be ‘picked’ IMMEDIATELY by a team that wants to WIN. Good luck Shedeur, and say hello to your wonderful father!”
Here’s the question that was posed to Leavitt on Monday morning: “Does the President think he deserves credit for Sanders being picked, and does he think going to the Browns is better than being undrafted?”
“All I will say is the President put out a statement, and a few rounds later he was drafted,” Leavitt said. “So I think the facts speak for themselves on that one.”
While the question and answer were delivered in lighthearted fashion, here are the facts. In response to the urging that Shedeur be “‘picked’ IMMEDIATELY by a team that wants to WIN,” the Browns did not select Sanders with the very next selection, the 33rd in the draft. They didn’t take Sanders when they were back on the clock, at pick No. 36. Or with the 67th pick. Or with the 94th pick, which was used on quarterback Dillon Gabriel. Or with the 126th pick.
It wasn’t until the 144th pick — 112 picks after the first round ended — that Sanders was drafted.
And the decision was ultimately driven not by executive order but by analytics. The value was far too great by the 144th selection, with a large gap between the best available player (Sanders) and the next player on the board.
Whether the analytics mesh with the human dynamics is a different issue. The Browns have embraced a backup (for now) quarterback who will command maximum attention. It was proven throughout the draft coverage, from the time ESPN spent discussing Shedeur Sanders while the Titans were preparing to draft quarterback Cam Ward with the first overall pick to non-stop rants from Mel Kiper Jr. during the free fall, which made some wonder whether Mel regarded Shedeur as Mel Kiper III.
Even after Shedeur Sanders was picked, Mel kept going. “The NFL has been clueless for 50 years when it comes to evaluating quarterbacks,” Kiper declared. “Clueless. They have no idea what they’re doing in terms of evaluating quarterbacks. That’s proof. There’s proof of that. They can say, ‘We know exactly what we’re talking about with quarterbacks.’ They don’t.”
Regardless of whether Kiper’s commentary is accurate (it seemed to stray at times beyond the hyperbolic), the non-stop Shedeur Sanders talk underscores the fact that the Browns are welcoming the circus to town. If Joe Flacco (or anyone other than Shedeur Sanders) is the starter, reporters will rush past QB1 to get to QB144. Teammates will be regularly asked about Sanders. Coach Kevin Stefanski will deal with repeated questions about Sanders.
It’s one of the reasons why the slide continued beyond round one. Any team thinking about taking a mid-round flier on a borderline first-round prospect needed to set aside notions of draft value and consider the broader impact on the team.
The Browns didn’t. They ultimately focused on analytics over human dynamics. And it will be an issue for the team unless and until Shedeur Sanders wins (or is handed) the starting job.
And it’s possible that ownership will put a thumb on the scale when it comes to setting the depth chart. We saw it happen last year, when the Browns stubbornly kept Deshaun Watson under center even after it became obvious to anyone with two or more of the five senses knew that Watson needed to be benched.