The ESPN segment between Rece Davis and Mel Kiper was nervous on Saturday as the network star had a heated debate over former Colorado quarterback Chedure Sanders after being drafted by the Browns on Saturday.
Sanders, who was 144th overall overall from the top prospects from the fifth round, and Sanders faced criticism in a draft preview that cited anonymous sources about how he handled the pre-draft process and presented himself in an interview. Davis is hosting the report – “This was the outcome,” regardless of how it was guaranteed.
“When you’re in a life situation, you may have to deal with it whether you like them, whether you don’t like them, whether they’re fair, whether they’re unfair,” Davis said. “And now, Chedure Sanders has to deal with it. … Now he has the opportunity to answer it. I don’t think it’s productive to scream at the NFL about it.”
Kipper then called Boomer Essiason (2nd round) and Tom Brady (6th round) quarterbacks who fell into the draft and managed to get along, and he kept screaming for the generally horrible things the league rates quarterbacks for decades.
During the exchange, both Davis and Kiper were animated beyond what was typical segment similar.
“The NFL has been ignorant about quarterback ratings for 50 years,” Kiper said of the NFL. “Ignorance. They don’t know what they’re doing… there’s evidence of that.”
It wasn’t the first time Kipper had a nervous moment in regards to Sanders in the weekend draft. After the third round was over, he defended him.
Sanders was drafted after Cam Ward, Jackson Dart, Tyler Schaff, Jalen Millow and Dillon Gabriel, and Gabriel was also chosen by the Browns, setting the scenario where Sanders would have to compete to play with former Oregon Signal Colour, Kenny Pickett and 40-year-old Joe Flaco.
Members of the Browns draft room were also not excited about Sanders’ draft. Neither head coach Kevin Stefanski and general manager Andrew Berry were emotionally visible during the applause. “We’re probably just tired over the weekend,” Berry told reporters.
“These clips, it doesn’t timing exactly at the right time, so I don’t do that. I don’t read too much about it,” Stefanski told reporters about the exchange.
