Stephen A. Smith has an unpleasant theory about the free fall of Chedure Sanders’ stunning NFL draft.
Star Colorado quarterback and Hall of Fame son Dion Sanders was not selected in the first three rounds of the 2025 NFL Draft after considering his number one overall pick.
Smith thinks he knows why.
ESPN Star Posted on X on Friday night Someone texted him a message he believed was “absolutely right.”
“This looks bad for the NFL. It feels like a conspiracy at (Corin) Kaepernick level,” Smith writes about the message.
He then set out on how much damage even the story of conspiracy is causing for the NFL.
“The NFL league offices are making every effort to eradicate these kinds of perceptions, and just look back at the owners appearing to be colluding,” Smith writes. “What’s done to Shedeur will outweigh everything else in this draft. I’d never believe this is about talent assessments again.”
He wasn’t finished.
Smith posted another responsibilities for believing he was being done to Sanders by the owner, as he concluded that the second and third rounds were not drafted.
“This is a dishonorable,” Smith wrote. “Hell’s @shedeur is @shedeur, who hasn’t been drafted yet. I still think this has nothing to do with the @deionsanders team. This kid is the first round. Another way, this is Kaepernick again.
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Smith compares the situation among NFL owners who didn’t sign Kaepernick, who led the 49ers to the Super Bowl after QB kneeled during the national anthem as a way to protest racial injustice and police brutality in 2016, to accusations of conspiracy between NFL owners.
He has not played in the league since becoming a free agent after the 2016 season.
Kaepernick sued the NFL for conspiracy, and in 2019 the case was resolved.
Sanders has been filmed before him with five QBs so far taken before him, with first place pick come Ward (Titan), Jackson Dart (Giants), Dilongabriel (Browns), Tyler Shaff (Saint) and Jalen Milllow (Seahawks).
ESPN’s draft Guru Mel Kiper ranked Sanders as No. 1 QB, while others see flaws in his game.
Before the draft, there were reports that his brushiness during a team interview had not worked out with the club. The Colorado coach was also able to create unwanted headlines with potential criticisms about how the team would treat his son.
“Sanders’ slips stem from both the flaws in his game and the rudeness he showed during the pre-draft process, an NFL source told the Post.
CBS NFL insider Jonathan Jones called what was happening to Sanders “an NFL rejection of the way Sheddur Sanders and the people around him handled the entire NFL draft process.”
Jones said he was told in an interview that he was “more or less punched” while pairing with a team that didn’t see him go, or with a team that had the number one quarterback in place.
This is clearly the way the NFL and its teams allow it [Shedeur] And as everyone else knows after him, you can’t move yourself like this,” Jones said during CBS draft reporting.
Sanders is still being taken on Saturday with round 4-7 playing.
