Shedeur Sanders and Quinn Ewers, victims of racism?
Much has been said about Shedeur Sanders falling to the fifth round of the NFL draft. Rightly so. But somewhat ignored is Texas quarterback Quinn Ewers not being selected until the seventh round by the Miami Dolphins. Sanders had been touted as a round one pick and to have been the quarterback picked after Miami’s Cam Ward. He wasn’t and being passed over until the fifth round was shocking. Quarterback deficient teams like the Las Vegas Raiders and the Pittsburgh Steelers passed on him elicited charges of racism. Not drafting Sanders was a revelation. Even Dallas passing (no pun intended) on him when he could have backed up Dax Prescott was a head scratcher.
The reasons given for passing on Sanders were his unprofessional attitude and entitlement demeanor. He knew he was talented and playing the most important position in football. His father is the great Deion Sanders who is a hall of famer and has no shortage of braggadocio and attitude. Must run in the family.
Predictably there were cries of racism by the usual suspects. Jamaal Bowman – who thank goodness is no longer in the congress – opined that race was a factor. “The NFL doesn’t like Shedeur Sanders because he wears gold chains and talks like a rapper. They don’t care that he’s a leader, intelligent, tough and completed 77% of his passes with no o line and no running game,” Huh?. I guess Bowman forgot that Ward was taken number one and is black and that 14 black quarterbacks started at the beginning of the 2024 season. Lastly, Bowman has overlooked all the NFL players who are tattooed to the max and having bad hair days. He is also overlooking the number of black NFL coaches and GMs that passed on Sanders. Is Mike Tomlin a racist? One person tweeted that Sanders was being blackballed, an obvious reference to racism.
At the NFL combine, Sanders was said to be arrogant, unprofessional and not prepared. He seemed entitled. Maybe Bowman and those other who shout racism will reconsider their comments when Donald Trump is on their side calling the NFL stupid for now drafting Sanders early. The president tweeted “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!” How about that sports fans? Jamaal Bowman and Donald Trump agree!
But what about Ewers? He was the number one quarterback coming out of high school in Texas. He landed a big NIL deal and spent his freshman year at the Ohio State University (Go Bucks!) before transferring to Texas. He kept the wunderkind Archie Manning on the bench for two years and led Texas to the college playoffs in their first year in the SEC where they only lost to my Georgia Bulldogs (twice). Go Dawgs!. Ewers was projected to be drafted on Day two but slid all the way down to the seventh round. Why hasn’t this been analyzed to death like Sanders? Was Ewers unprofessional? Did he have attitude? Was he entitled? No Ewers is boringly white with no gold chains, no visible tats, boring haircut and no rapper lingo. Yet teams passed on him and drafted Dillon Gabriel, Jalen Milroe, Tyler Shough and 9 other quarterbacks ahead of him. Tyler who? Looking for excuses, some say that Ewers has trouble reading defenses and is inconsistent. Yet he started for Texas for three years. If those things are true what does it say about Manning? So if Sanders did not get drafted early because he was too black then maybe Ewers didn’t get drafted early because he was too white.
Maybe Ewers slid to the seventh round because he is apparently not very smart. Unlike ex-Georgia QB Carson Beck who transferred to the University of Miami after deciding not to go to the NFL. Beck is making $4.3 million in NIL money at Miami and would have made less in the NFL. The same is true for Ewers who had one year of eligibility left. He had to leave Texas because Manning was no longer going to bide his time on the bench. But if Ewers had transferred – say to Georgia or Tennessee – he would have likely gotten Carson Beck NIL money. Instead he goes to the Dolphins in round 7. Starting salaries in the NFL are slotted and the slot value for the 231st pick is $4.3 million over four years. Ewers would have gotten that for just one year to stay in college.
Regardless, both are probably embarrassed and as President Trump intimated, so should the NFL.
haroldblackphd.com 