Shedeur Sanders was the biggest story of entire the NFL draft, both in spite of and because of the fact that he was picked in the fifth round. The NFL media convinced themselves, the public and the Sanders family that Shedeur was a first-round pick while the actual NFL decided otherwise.
While all the evidence seems to suggest that Shedeur Sanders's slide in the draft was just him getting picked where he was always going to get picked, some are clinging to the idea that something more nefarious than a prank phone call took place.
On the NFL Network Monday morning Good Morning Football's Kyle Brandt called out the loudest voices in the Shedur discourse and wondered why they were really saying these things.
Reaction to the Shedeur reaction.
— Kyle Brandt (@KyleBrandt) April 28, 2025
Ridiculous weekend of media. pic.twitter.com/2DLoXFOkVW
"Over the weekend this went from a football story to a drunken media story," said Brandt. "It became one of the seismic media rodeos, where you can sit there and watch people that you followed for years say things that you know they don't believe. Or at best they were saying from some emotional place where they were so unhinged and off the reservation.
“I mean I'm hearing things like conspiracy, collusion. What are you talking about? Do you know that video of you saying that ot your phone you know it's going out to the public right? Aren't you embarrassed? Or are you just that happy to see the engagement being churned out by people clicking on the circus clown screaming conspiracy theories?
"Do you not think that if one team thought Shedeur Sanders would help them win more game than the other guy that they wouldn't immediately draft him," Brandt continued. "They would. I promise you. These coaches, these GMs are obsessed, desperate, nomadic people who just want to win games and not move their families to another city after they're fired."
Finally, Brandt pointed out that the unwavering defense of Sanders will actually hurt him:
"It is become this whole thing, one of these things, one of these media events where the public discourse is so off-putting that it makes fans root against Shedeur just because they're so turned off by the way media members are screaming about him. It's sad and it's stupid."
Whatever the real reason is behind Sanders being a fifth-round pick, the fervor around him will be around for a while. He's the new Tim Tebow and he's in Cleveland where he will be in an actual open quarterback competition. However good he is, people are interested, watching, listening and clicking when you use his name.
This isn't going away anytime soon.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Kyle Brandt Shreds 'Sad and Stupid' Shedeur Sanders Discourse.