Remember when everyone was certain that Shedeur Sanders was the next Raiders franchise QB? Those were the days. There were cryptic Instagram posts, pre-made custom jerseys, one billion photoshop attempts, and even more, way less cryptic Instagram posts.
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For most of Sanders' final season at Colorado, he and the Raiders seemed destined for one another. Then, once the pre-draft process really got going, that suddenly disappeared. Whispers of Sanders dropping into the 2nd round have persisted for the better part of six weeks now, and the Geno Smith trade made Sanders landing in Vegas feel even less likely.
Sanders has felt like an afterthought for the Raiders for some time now, and on Monday morning, Sports Illustrated's Albert Breer basically shut down the idea entirely in his weekly mailbag/roundup/word vomit.
Albert Breer more-or-less rules the Raiders out of the Shedeur Sanders sweepstakes
"Anyway, I don’t think Sanders is going in the top three. And at this point, it feels like it’d be surprising if the Las Vegas Raiders, New York Jets or Saints took him in the top 10. I’ve had more than one person say to me that if Sanders goes in the first round, it’ll be because an owner got involved. That, of course, is a bit of a guess from a few guys who are clued into how Sanders is viewed. But it’s also a bit of a window into the way evaluators are looking at the Colorado star."
Normally I'd point out that it is peak, PEAK Smokescreen SZN, and this is exactly the person that an NFL front office would go to if they wanted to leak some fake intel. But when the team not only trades for Smith but then works quickly to get him an extension, you sorta get the sense that they're not playing 4D chess and simply prefer Smith to Sanders.
So maybe this ends up looking foolish in hindsight, but I'm calling the Sanders dream DOA. Maybe if he's somehow still around in the 2nd round, the dream will find a second life. But I think we all know that I'm coping/hitting my SEO-approved word count here. It is what it is. We'll always have those cryptic Instagram posts, though.