The Peculiar Case of Shedeur Sanders
“He’s Entitled” Moniker Applied To Sanders Is All It Took For A Good Kid To Fall From #1 Overall, Starting QB Shot
Remember when the #1 quarterback taken in the 1998 NFL draft, the #2 overall pick, Ryan Leaf, famously spazzed-out in front of his locker during one of the biggest post game flame-outs in sports history? It still remains epic TV!!
A quick Google search reveals that Leaf’s life took a horrible turn after his short four-year NFL career, filled with substance abuse issues that eventually led to an arrest and conviction for burglary. Leaf has since been very public about the “entitlement” he was allowed to enjoy as a “prototype” NFL QB prospect.
Were there signals before Leaf’s entire life imploded in front of a live televised audience? In college, or during NFL Combine interviews, did Leaf exhibit a cockiness, an arrogance, that was overlooked, clearly YEP!
Many, at the time, did characterize Leaf as having a “sense of entitlement.” However, he also had “it” or whatever it factor “they” felt necessary to be one of the greats. Oh, how horribly wrong they were, Leaf flamed-out so fast most NFL fans have forgotten his name, image, and antics.
Okay, how about the real franchise faces for decades, like Chicago Bears QB, no not Jim McMahon (though he is clearly worthy of a mention), Jay Cutler? A questionable starter for years, he was so “entitled” that Cutler was allowed to suck the careers, and championships, out of the lives of great coaches, teams, and players, for 12 seasons.
Cutler remains one of the longest tenured losers allowed to keep his ego and his position. However, for non-Black QBs like Cutler, Leaf, or even good ole McMahon, the same arrogance, and total confidence in self, is exactly what teams salivate over in meetings with potential faces of a franchise, which makes the Shedeur Sanders predicament so peculiar.
Stranger still, the kid is already a marketable brand with a huge following to bring to a struggling team, franchise, or city. Who, South of the Rockies, watched the University of Colorado Buffaloes before Sir Primetime hit those hills? Now, CU is a premiere destination for D1 players looking for a big stage, and the opportunity to play on Sundays. In 2025, Colorado sent four premiere players to the NFL, with Travis Hunter drafted number in the first-round with #2 overall pick (Jacksonville).
Deion “Primetime” Sanders, brings the audience with him, and demands excellence from his players–particularly his sons–in every scenario. He is a dream parent for any coach looking to win. However, if control is your aim, if not recognizing greatness because of race, or if you like to play mind games, neither Sanders’ are desirable.
The younger Sanders, with a Dad and whole “football family” in tow (as it should be), knows the ropes very well, is already vetted by brands, media, and society at-large; in short Shedeur is ready for “The Big Show.”
What does it say the NFL clearly does not want young men who know their game?
Interesting still, is how the Sanders’ case explodes in the lexicon as Shannon Sharpe’s embarrassing debacle is still spilling out in media and on social media.
NFL Hall Of Fame tight end, Super Bowl Champion with two franchises, and one of the hottest on-air personalities atESPN and in podcast land, is being labeled a pedo, “creep,” or at minimum a “groomer” of young girls online. His preferences and behaviors, by now, are known to his NFL inner-circle, and are wholly accepted.
Ironically, it is the in plain sight aspect of Sharpe’s action that should be most alarming! He clearly carries on in public, live online, and on social media, so imagine what his team owners, teammates, close friends, and family get to witness IRL (in real life)!
Sharpe is part of a long, long, long line of superstar NFL players with questionable sexual interactions with women. From Pittsburgh Steelers legend Ben Rothlisberger being accused of raping a girl in a bathroom at a bar near his alma mater; to Green Bay Packers icon Brett Farve being accused of harassing a sideline reporter, the excuses made for non-Black stars, especially quarterbacks, are unfathomable, while in every case the facts remain largely unknown.
Honestly, if former Houston Texans’ QB Deshaun Watson played another position on the team, he may not have survived the allegations against him, to continue his career as the face of the Cleveland Browns, and earn hundreds of millions to naked bootleg.
However Watson, like Roethlisberger, Farve, Leaf, Cutler, and even good ole McMahon, plays one of the most coveted, and protected positions in all of sports, NFL QB. Ask Tom Brady. The NFL changed every rule in the sport to protect that guy (Brady), and the entire league–Owners, Coaches, Players–accepted and agreed.
So, how valuable is a confident, arrogant, risk-taker, with a touch of crazy, a whole lot of God given ability, and a brain to read defenses while battling adversity, ask the Kansas City Chiefs? Is that not the description of Patrick Mahomes? How about Payton Manning? What about John Elway? Bradshaw? Stabler? Staubach? Marino?
The labels applied to Sanders are coordinated attacks that seem to only drastically impact Black or Brown athletes entering the NFL (or any sport).
Eli Manning refused to play for the San Diego Chargers, and forced a trade to a larger media market, New York? Manning was still drafted #1 overall despite the rumors of being an “entitled” kid due to his “father and brother’s successes.” Manning did not fall out of the draft, or to later rounds like freakin fourth (Shedeur). No message was sent to Archie Manning to fallback, nor would anyone think to ever disrespect a great.
However, the elder Manning never won a Super Bowl, in fact he never even played in a single championship game. Contrasting NFL greatness, the elder Sanders played in two Super Bowls and both his team, the San Francisco 49ers and Dallas Cowboys, winning the chip! However, the Sanders’ aren’t respected like the Mannings, why?
Like George Floyd, the public crucifixion of a Black Athlete like Sander is necessary to expose the media noose that American society routinely applies to be placed around the neck of any Black man too confident to simply comply or quietly conform.
Today, all some reporter, scout, owner, or jerk-off coaches son, needs to do to kick the chair from under the unsuspecting Black Athlete is float, “entitled” or create embarrassing content, The System does the rest (ask mManti Te’o) as the world watches but does nothing, until now. You can Play a Playa! You can’t Game a Gamer!
The NFL’s worst nightmare since Colin Kaepernick, is Team Sanders, and how they have handled the cronyism, pettiness, and overt racism of the NFL, with a cool and grace only God can give. Shedeur will be fine, but what about the rest of us?
Can Black men continue to look at the NFL the same? Will we simply ignore this and let the league go back to business as usual? Will the Browns and Jacksonville Jaguars become the new most expensive franchises in sports…because of Team Sanders?
Or, is it time to support a new league, especially considering the game is now global?