Boomer Esiason says NFL owners ordered 'entitled' Shedeur Sanders off their draft boards
Boomer Esiason says NFL owners ordered 'entitled' Shedeur Sanders off their draft boards
Shedeur Sanders' NFL draft slide wasn't all his fault.
While discussing the Colorado quarterback's historic slide to becoming the Cleveland Browns' fifth-round pick, former NFL quarterback and analyst Boomer Esiason claimed that Sanders was not on draft boards due to decisions made by team ownership.
"When you listen to this kid [Sanders] talk, right prior or at the combine, about how if you want a new culture in your locker room, I'm the guy to do that, I can turn it around, he's very high on himself, and I think he's very off-putting to many, many coaches and general managers in the league,' Esiason said Monday on WFAN's 'Boomer & Gio.'
The interview Esiason references is Sanders' pre-combine interview with the media, where he says he is a culture changer.
"If you ain't trying to change the franchise or the culture, don't get me," Sanders contended.
Esiason continues his rant, explaining how he was told the former CU quarterback was eliminated from their draft boards entirely.
"I'm telling you right now, and I know this after talking to three different personnel people in the NFL this weekend, they didn't even have him on their board," Esaison said. "They took him off, and they took him off because the owner said, 'Take him off, I don't want that guy. I don't want this … entitled person on our team,' and I don't blame them."
Sanders made headlines for his comments at the combine, but no one seemed to think it "torpedoed" his draft stock to the point he would be a late-round pick.
Esiason also believes that Deion Sanders was a significant factor, alluding to a time when Sanders joked that the family would pull a "Eli," a reference to Eli Manning forcing a draft-day trade in 2004 because he did not want to play for the Chargers.
It was a wild draft weekend for the Sanders' family as the quarterback fell victim to a prank call from Atlanta Falcons' defensive coordinator Jeff Ulbrich's son.
Sanders now enters a quarterback room in Cleveland with a solid chance at first-year playing time, given the uncertainty of the position.
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