Deion Sanders and Shedeur Sanders have been under the scanner for the last few days, thanks to an exposé by former Buffs safety Xavier Smith. During an interview with The Athletic, Smith alleged Deion had not even made the effort to get to know him before forcing him out of the roster, which has since been making the rounds on “X”. But things got even uglier for the Sanders family when Shedeur retweeted one of the reports and chimed in by saying that he doesn’t even remember Smith, as he must have been “mid at best.”
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To no one’s surprise, Shedeur’s comments opened the floodgates, leading to intense scrutiny on social media. Deion wasn’t spared either when he tried to defend his youngest with an “X” post. Several fans and pundits alike now point fingers at the Sanders family, even arguing that this incident could lower Shedeur’s draft stock. Keyshawn Jonhson, however, isn’t on the same page and says that this issue is overblown solely because of Deion’s involvement.
On “All Facts, No Brakes,” Johnson opined that the hate is amplified due to Deion’s haters having a field day. He further alleged that the hate is momentary and couldn’t affect Shedeur’s prospects in the draft next year.
“Now this is all part of the Deion hate,” Johnson remarked. “This all that is they gonna do that. It’s a Deion hate. Shedeur gonna be Shedeur, bottom line and he’ll be one of the top players off the board when his time comes.”
Nonetheless, it’s worth noting that Johnson’s confidence in Shedeur not being negatively impacted in the draft stock is currently an unpopular sentiment, especially considering how top draft prospect Spencer Rattler fell into the pit merely because of his attitude.
Shedeur Sanders’ Aggressive Response Might Land Him in Trouble
In the last few years, Spencer Rattler has positioned himself as one of the brightest stars in the QB class of the collegiate circuit. A scouting report once described him amongst “a handful of players who throw with his flexibility and arm strength and accuracy,” as per the Bleacher Report. However, it all went downhill for him when he appeared on Netflix’s docuseries “QB1: Beyond the Lights.” His persona on the show was arguably that of a brat, and it messed up his prospects.
Teams suddenly developed an allergy to the young prospect, and he was selected as the 150th pick in this draft despite his wealth of talents. One of the panelists on “All Facts, No Brakes” brought the power of perception and PR and asked Keyshawn if Shedeur would suffer a similar fate. The former wideout, without skipping a beat, disagreed and argued that Shedeur is miles above Rattler in terms of talent. So the Sanders prodigy facing such a fate is out of sight.
“Spencer Rattler ain’t nowhere near the quarterback that Shedeur is going to wind up being,” Johnson claimed. “So I understand the question [but] it will not hurt his stock at all. Not one bit.”
Johnson also pointed out that several NFL players currently have said and done far worse things but still enjoy a flourishing career. So all the naysayers around Shedeur should pipe down as a mere tweet is unlikely to harm his draft stock.
“Guys that are currently playing in the National Football League at the same position, also others that went high in the draft; I’m talking about high, high as you can go with questionable social media tactics and things in their social media, it didn’t drop them and they have gone on to have successful so far NFL careers,” Keyshawn Johnson said.
But should Shedeur have refrained from making an aggressive comment? The former Cowboys wideout felt that the younger Sanders could have surely done so, but at the same time, noted to fellow panelist TJ Houshmandzadeh that kids of today’s generation love arguing on social media. So they should let it slide as an age issue and not look into the comments.
“In this day and age and era in which we are, this is what they do,” Johnson argued.
As Keyshawn said, this is all a temporary phase. Things are tough for Deion Sanders & Co. right now, but a few wins under their belt and an appearance in a Bowl Game will undoubtedly steer the QB prospect in the right direction.
