NFL teams were told not to draft Shedeur Sanders, Eric Dickerson says

Pro Football Hall-of-Famer Eric Dickerson made a controversial claim that the NFL wanted to “make an example” of Shedeur Sanders and told teams not to pick him in last April’s draft.

Dickerson alleged during an appearance on the “Roggin and Rodney Show” on AM 570 LA Sports this week that he had heard about the messaging to teams through a “very good source” that was connected to the NFL.

Sanders was selected in the fifth round by the Browns after he had been projected to go in the first round in the months leading up to the draft, but questions surrounding the way he handled the draft process seemed to impact his draft stock. 

The Pro Football Hall of Famer alleged it went beyond that. 

“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,” Dickerson said. “We’re going to make an example out of him. And this came from a very good source, a very good source.”

But apparently, Sanders had fallen much further than anticipated and some league officials called the Browns and “forced” them to take him with the 144th overall pick. 

“He said that – I won’t say who – somebody called the Cleveland Browns and said ‘don’t do that, draft him,’” Dickerson said. “Because they weren’t going to draft him either… They were forced into drafting him because somebody made a call to them.”

When asked what the point would have been — if it had been to make so he doesn’t get picked — Dickerson said that the NFL was “going to have him not get drafted to basically show you ‘this is what happens when you do this.’” 

But one NFL insider refuted what Dickerson had heard. 

Sports Illustrated’s Albert Breer told Dan Patrick on the “Dan Patrick Show” that he thought those “sorts of conspiracies are a little overdone.” 

“I don’t think there was any conspiracy here,” he added. “I think it’s relatively simple what happened. I think the great majority of NFL teams did not view him as a first-round prospect contrary to what had been out there for the year previous.

“And then I think what happens is once you get past the first round, you look at the history over the years, not a lot of quarterbacks go in the second or third rounds…”

Joe Flacco will be the starting quarterback for the Browns when the season starts in a few weeks, but Sanders is expected to play in the Browns’ preseason game on Saturday.