When it comes to quarterbacks like Shedeur Sanders who were drafted late but still went on to have a successful career, Tom Brady is the standard.
Everyone knows the story by now: Brady wasn’t highly-touted going into the 2000 NFL draft and ended up going in the sixth round to the New England Patriots before having one of the greatest careers in NFL history.
Granted, Sanders was more highly-touted than Brady coming out, but the Colorado product will now look to prove every team that passed on him wrong just like Brady did, including the Raiders, where Brady is a minority owner.
Recently, NFL Hall of Famer Michael Strahan revealed he watched the draft with Brady as Sanders slid, and Brady’s reaction was about what you’d expect.
“I spent time with Tom Brady this past weekend and we watched the Draft and as Tom said, he’s an example, it doesn’t matter when you’re picked,” Strahan said on ABC’s Good Morning America of Brady’s reaction to Sanders’ slide.
Strahan went on to say that he didn’t believe Sanders should have fallen to the fifth round, and he wasn’t a fan of the anonymous reports bashing the young quarterback ahead of the draft, either.
“I don’t think this kid should’ve dropped to the fifth round, and I hate when you have unnamed sources,” Strahan said. “If you’re going to say something that bad to disparage a kid, put your name on it first of all.”
The Raiders opting not to take even a late-round flyer on Sanders was at least a bit surprising. After all, the Raiders don’t have a long-term solution under center and Sanders had a good relationship with Mark Davis and Brady, both of whom had spoken highly of the youngster.
Talking head Skip Bayless was of the opinion that the Raiders did not draft Sanders at Brady’s request, but an insider has since shot that down.
“Tom thinks that Skip Bayless is an idiot for thinking he had anything to do with Shedeur’s downfall in the NFL Draft,” a source told Russ Weakland of The Daily Mail. “Tom has limited say in what players the Raiders pick in the NFL Draft or whomever they sign.
“Pete Carroll and Mark Davis have the final say on everything with the team,” the insider added. “Will they talk to Tom for his advice? Absolutely, but Tom had no sway on getting Shedeur or staying away from him.
“Now that Tom is in the media himself and has had to deal with Skip forever, it is just another ridiculous accusation that Tom isn’t going to give any life to for Skip’s benefit. It is just stupid banter.”
Sanders now finds himself in a tough spot, as he’ll have four other quarterbacks in front of him on the depth chart, and we’re not even including Deshaun Watson in that count, as he’ll miss the entire 2025 season.
All that said, if Sanders is good enough, he’ll rise above that difficult situation and stick with the Browns into the regular season, at least as a backup.
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