In some corners of sports media, Shedeur Sanders’ fall into the fifth round of the NFL Draft was interpreted as the latest example of a Black quarterback being undervalued and disrespected by the football establishment. A contingent led by ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith even compared Sanders’ slide to the blackballing of Colin Kaepernick by NFL owners a decade ago. But to longtime sports commentator Bomani Jones, that couldn’t be further from the truth.
On the latest episode of his podcast The Right Time, Jones explained why the treatment of Kaepernick and Sanders is not comparable and why anyone turning Sanders’ slide as a “cause” is “embarrassing” themself.
In particular, Jones emphasized the difference between being “outspoken” and what he called “obnoxious.” Based on his conversations with NFL colleagues, Jones believes Sanders is only the latter. Sanders is brash, a celebrity, and many other things that could make him a distraction.
But unlike with Kaepernick, Jones does not see any evidence that he is speaking out for much of anything.
“If your argument is ‘They wanted to show this outspoken Black man his place,’ number one, let us stop acting like outspoken and obnoxious are perfect synonyms,” Jones said. “They are not. Show me something that Shedeur Sanders has spoken out about. Tell me what that thing is, tell me what his cause is. He is not outspoken. I have not seen any reason to call him outspoken. Even if you think he has been treated unfairly, ‘outspoken’ is a stretch. And it is a ridiculous thing to say about him, I believe.”
Jones also dispelled multiple accusations that have been thrown toward NFL owners and executives in the aftermath of Sanders’ fall in the draft. As for the idea that the league was sending him a message about his personality, NIL earnings, or his father’s public persona, Jones wondered why he got drafted. And when it comes to Sanders’ father, Deion, Jones noted that he is actually quite popular in NFL circles. After all, Deion worked for NFL Network for years before moving into coaching.
Instead, Jones believes the big gap between the perception around where Sanders would land and where he was ultimately selected is simpler to understand. People were simply afraid to criticize the young quarterback around the Colorado program, which made it hard for NFL evaluators to get an accurate read on him that they could trust. As a result, Jones argued that NFL teams assumed a different team would take him, but none did.
All along, the Sanders family continued to project confidence. Deion hyped Shedeur up as the best quarterback in America and a lock to go near the top of the draft. According to Jones, what ultimately doomed Shedeur is the way the family handled his tenure in Boulder and his own personal performance when he met with teams.
“To my colleagues who are making this a cause, you are embarrassing yourselves. You are playing yourselves,” Jones said.
“And even if part of why he fell is that people didn’t like him, he was going for a job where being liked is part of the deal. They did it wrong. That’s all it comes down to. They did it wrong. There are criticisms to be made of Colin Kaepernick, but he literally gave it all up in the name of a cause that was bigger than him. The only cause Shedeur Sanders has is himself. Don’t you motherf***ing dare act like those two things are the same. Do not. Have you lost the plot so badly? Look around you, the whole world is on fire. And you think that this is the thing to get mad about? You think that this is the thing to go march on and talk about? Because the NFL told an apparently obnoxious young man that he wasn’t good enough to be a starter? He wasn’t good enough to be a starter.”
Kaepernick began kneeling during the pregame playing of the national anthem in 2015, in protest of the violence toward Black communities at the hands of the police. After he was cut by the San Francisco 49ers the following year and never re-signed to an NFL team, Kaepernick sued the league for collusion.
In 2019, Kaepernick settled with the league, reportedly for around $10 million.
Bomani Jones implored anyone in the media comparing Sanders to Kaepernick to “shut the f*** up.”
“So, to those of you who don’t know what you’re talking about. And you don’t know what you’re talking about. Would you please shut the f*** up?” Jones asked.
“Because there are things that are so important that you’re missing. And your outlook is not doing the service to the young man that you claim to care about. Because he’s got some things that he needs to hear. And I don’t know if his daddy’s going to be the one to tell him, I don’t know who’s going to be the one to tell him. But he better learn them fast, otherwise his NFL career will end in August.”
