After months of waiting, Shedeur Sanders finally made his NFL debut during the Cleveland Browns’ first preseason game on Friday against the Carolina Panthers.
Sanders performed better than anticipated for a fifth-round rookie, completing 14 of 23 passes for 138 yards and two touchdowns. It is important to not overreact to one game but, if Sanders enjoys a successful NFL career, the decision to pass on him in April could come back to bite teams bad. That goes doubly true for the Las Vegas Raiders, who not only had confirmed interest in Sanders for months prior to the draft, but their ownership group also includes Sanders’ mentor Tom Brady.
It is unsurprising that, after Sanders’ strong outing, that some pundits would take a shot at the teams who passed him.
Brady has once again found himself in the crosshairs of one of his biggest detractors.
ESPN’s Skip Bayless has been at the forefront of the insinuation that Brady told the Raiders not to draft Sanders, and took some time on his YouTube show to take another dig at the future Hall of Famer.
“I had Mel [Kiper] on my show ahead of the draft and Mel stood tall and strong for Shedeur… and Mel went off on draft night when he slid and failed to be taken by the entire National Football League, including Tom Brady’s team. What was it five times Tom Brady’s Raiders could have drafted him?” Bayless said.
“You can’t tell me Tom Brady didn’t say, ‘No, no, no’ to Shedeur. They didn’t like his attitude. They didn’t like his interviews, and I kept saying watch the freaking tape. You can just watch it on TV. As you saw again [on Friday], I was not at all surprised by tonight at Carolina.”
While it is easy for Bayless to take his victory lap, Brady and the Raiders may have found themselves another quarterback with a future in the NFL.
Sixth-round pick Cam Miller looked impressive in his own right on Thursday against the Seattle Seahawks, leading the Raiders to a near-comeback. Multiple sources indicated that drafting Miller was one of the roster decisions Brady signed off on, and his strong debut had to feel at least somewhat vindicating. Similar to Sanders, it is important to not put too much stock in one preseason game, but the Raiders had to be encouraged by the early returns on Miller.
It is possible that the Raiders missed out on Sanders, but Miller breaking out in his own right would erase that regret quickly.
