Eric Dickerson claims NFL manipulated Shedeur Sanders’ draft slot

Despite currently being listed as the Cleveland Browns’ fourth-string quarterback, Shedeur Sanders somehow remains one of the NFL’s biggest stories.

And even four months later, some fans and analysts are still trying to figure out why the former Colorado star slid from being a projected first-round pick to not being selected until the fifth round.

That very subject came up with Eric Dickerson during Wednesday’s episode of AM 570 LA Sports’ Roggin and Rodney Show. And it led to the Hall of Fame running back making the shocking claim that he was told that the league manipulated when and where Sanders would ultimately be picked.

“I tell you this much, what I heard from someone that’s in the NFL: that the NFL told [teams], ‘don’t draft him, do not draft him. We’re gonna make an example out of him,’” Dickerson said. “And this came from a very good source, a very good source. I won’t say who.”

According to Dickerson’s source, the league didn’t just tell teams not to draft Sanders, but also told the Browns to do so with the No. 144th overall pick.

“Somebody called the Cleveland Browns and said ‘don’t do that, draft him,’” the former FS1 analyst said. “Because they weren’t going to draft him either. They weren’t going to draft him. They were forced into drafting him because somebody made a call to them.”

Dickerson reiterated that the person who told him this was an “NFL-sized source.” He further stated that the goal of the league suppressing Sanders’ draft stock was to set an example for future prospects about how they should handle the pre-draft process.

“He was not going to get drafted to basically show you, ‘this is what happens when you do this,'” the SMU legend said.

Obviously, this isn’t the first time the NFL has been accused of collusion, although proving such accusations has certainly been easier said than done. It’s also not a stretch to think that the league’s 32 teams (not all of whom needed quarterbacks) each arrived at their own evaluations of Sanders independently based on a variety of factors, which contributed to him sliding to the fifth round.

As for the claim that the league ordered the Browns to pick him when they did and that Cleveland complied with the directive, that’s a much tougher sell. Especially when considering that the Browns traded up to select Sanders, meaning that it wasn’t just one draft pick they were surrendering in the process.

Ultimately, we may never get the full story about why Shedeur Sanders slid in the draft and, if anything, such speculation has only amplified his star power. After all, it’s not often that a fifth-round rookie remains one of the NFL’s most-talked about players entering a season, even as he currently projects to likely be inactive on gamedays to start his career.