TMQ: So, like, what the heck?

Shedeur Sanders passed over because of his dad -- a reverse nepo baby

The NFL draft is presented to the public as a form of entertainment. Nearly 14 million viewers watched, more than the average for last season’s NBA Finals, which pit the large markets of Dallas and Boston; more than the average audience for Tracker, number-one scripted show.

Boy was the slide of Shedeur Sanders entertaining, injecting drama and pathos into what’s fundamentally the reading of a list of names. People were still tuning in on the third day, normally watched only by the hard core, wondering when Sanders’s name finally would be called.

TMQ would rather believe it was all staged for publicity than that Sanders dropping to the fifth round was a rational football decision.

Maybe Shedeur didn’t merit being chosen second overall (as NFL.com itself projected three days before the draft). Maybe he should have gone in round two or round three. But the fifth round, after 143 other collegians were chosen? What the heck!

Especially considering how valuable quarterbacks are under the new NFL rules structure. Shedeur Sanders may not be John Elway, but he offers great value to an NFL team. Yet every club passed on him at least three times, adjusting for different numbers of picks.

Shedeur and Deion. Photo courtesy Sports Illustrated.

That’s not a football decision. That’s making Shedeur Sanders into a reverse nepo baby – because of his overbearing dad.

The president of the United States weighed in to call NFL owners STUPID (his caps) for not drafting Shedeur. No president had ever weighed in like this about a prospect on draft day, much less declared that a prominent player was wronged by the NFL.

Donald Trump has hated the NFL ownership guild since they wouldn’t let him in when he tired to purchase the Buffalo Bills. Plus he calls practically everyone he sees (other than his own reflection) stupid.

But the president of the United States saying an NFL draft prospect had been wronged by the league’s owners might lead to some nutty legal theory of NFL liability exposure. Nutty legal theories do better than they should. Trump’s intervention only made Shedeur’s situation worse, scaring teams away.

First, Shedeur as a player. Behind a weak offensive line at Colorado – Sanders often had to scramble to extend plays – he threw 64 touchdown passes against 13 interceptions, completing 71.6 of his attempts.

Those are excellent numbers even considering the quick-snap tempo and frequent busted coverages that make contemporary college football high-scoring.

Sanders throws well and reads the field well. Those are quarterback qualities NFL teams want.

Shedeur is not a freak athlete like his father Deion – “freak” in this context is a compliment. He doesn’t have great measurables or the particle-accelerator arm of some blue-chip quarterbacks. But he makes good decisions about where to go with the ball, then puts the pass into the receiver’s hands.