Coming out of the NFL Combine, it appears Colorado quarterback Shedeur Sanders is the draft prospect that's going to have the biggest smear campaign against him this year. Draft analyst Todd McShay indicated Sanders did not come off well in meetings with teams in Indianapolis.
"The two people that I spoke to in these positions left the meeting feeling like Shedeur Sanders was not overly concerned with what they thought of him", McShay said. "They had a 15-minute meeting with them, and when they were done, they both said in different ways, different words, that they did not feel like Shedeur Sanders cared all that much about what that organization thought of him.”
There has been speculation about Sanders falling down, or completely out of, the first round, based on the reports he came off as "brash" and "arrogant" in his combine meetings with teams. The Las Vegas Raiders are an easy team to tie to him at No. 6 overall, but they have other needs that stand to be on the radar there.
Sanders' father, Deion Sanders, has made it absolutely clear he is pulling strings behind the scenes for his son. That's not a new concept, or necessarily wrong, it is what it is and the "Deion factor" is something some teams may want to avoid. Maybe rightfully so in a lot of cases.
Analyst believes Raiders are the top priority for Shedeur Sanders
Sanders has been a prominent topic this week, and the agenda-driven attacks on his character are sure to continue. Chris Trapasso of CBS Sports thinks there's a team Sanders (and his father) wants to land with.
"My gut feeling and this was kind of reading some tea leaves from scouts that I talked to during the season. He wants to go to Las Vegas with the Raiders,” Trapasso said on Tuesday's edition of the "Maggie and Perloff Show" with Maggie Gray and Andrew Perloff.
"His connection with Tom Brady, we know his dad’s history. His dad was kind of picking and choosing where he wanted to go when he was an NFL player and wasn’t shy about doing so,” Trapasso continued. “The fact that he maybe came off as arrogant or unprofessional, I mean it’s impossible to know really what happened without being in those rooms, but going into the combine there was a general sense that he had one or two teams picked out and I think priority No. 1 for the whole Sanders camp is to land with the Raiders.”
Deion Sanders can have all the wishes he wants, and try to manipulate things all he wants toward preferred teams for his son. The Raiders may hold the younger Sanders in high enough regard to take him at No. 6 overall, or maybe they'd take him in the second round if he falls that far. Maybe they don't want him at all, based solely on his talent.
The new power structure in Las Vegas (John Spytek, Tom Brady, Pete Carroll) surely won't bend to the will of "Prime Time" if they don't think Shedeur Sanders can be their franchise quarterback. But maybe that's the point of them being the preferred destination for the Sanders camp. Credible football people in place, a situation that seemingly wouldn't wreck a young quarterback's career, etc. The Raiders seem to be in that positive category now, which is a great thing whether they draft Sanders or not.