“The 1st pick was a black QB”: Dave Portnoy dismisses the racist narrative around Shedeur Sanders following NFL draft debacle

Shedeur Sanders was widely seen as a guaranteed first-round pick and in some people's eyes, a top-five pick, as the NFL draft began on Thursday night. However, things have not gone that way, with Shedeur falling to the fifth round.

In response to this, some media analysts and pundits have opined that the reason for Sanders falling down the board is racial.

Founder of Barstool Sports, Dave Portnoy, a fan of Shedeur Sanders, gave his opinion of these claims on social media.

"This is insane. All these race takes are insane. I love Deion. And I’ve been saying for 2 years Shedeur would be my 1st Qb off the board. BUT NFL gms, coaches, owners will do ANYTHING to win games, save jobs. The NFL is cut throat. Owners would stomp on each other’s throats to win.

"There is no collusion. The 1st pick was a black Qb. If teams thought Shedeur and everything he brings could help them win games more than guys available on the board they’d draft him.. Thats it. End of story. Every other narrative is fantasy."

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The responses come after a claim from Stephen A Smith that, in not picking Shedeur Sanders, all NFL teams were in a Colin Kaepernick-style collusion. The analyst believes they did not choose him solely due to the color of his skin.

However, as Portnoy has stated, this might not be true. The number one pick of the draft (Cam Ward, a quarterback) is Black.

All teams have had multiple opportunities to draft Shedeur Sanders in the first four rounds of the NFL draft. It is likely not race but character and his attitude that is what is turning teams off.

Did Shedeur Sanders jeopardise himself?

Reports that have come out in the last week, building up to the NFL draft, have spoken about how Shedeur Sanders' interviews with potential NFL teams went. One of the interviews was with the New York Giants, a team very much in the running for Shedeur.

An insider gave more details on what happened during Shedeur's interview with Giants coach Brian Daboll:

"Shedeur didn’t have a great interview with Brian Daboll in a private visit. An install package came in, the preparation wasn’t there for it. (Shedeur) got called out on it, didn’t like that. Brian didn’t appreciate him not liking it.”

This could have very much been a key factor in why the Giants did not pick him. Instead, they traded into the first round to pick Ole Miss quarterback Jaxson Dart with the 25th overall pick.

About the author

Ben Tredinnick is a journalist who covers college football and college basketball at Sportskeeda who is currently studying for a masters in Data Science. His degree in Psychology has helped him gain an in-depth understanding of the minds of coaches.

Ben has been involved in sports writing since 2022 and covered the NFL previously. His strengths include providing in-depth profiles of athletes and coaches, with a particular focus on development, and looking at which teams could be in the hunt for today's college stars.

Ben enjoys following college sports more than the NBA or NFL because there is more variation in terms of playstyles. The tournaments are often more competitive than the major leagues, and due to the constant turnover of players, there are rarely any "superteams" in college sports.

He prioritizes research, looks at multiple sources and publications to make sure he gets the full picture of the story before writing. He tries not to write from a one-sided perspective to allow the reader to be able to make their mind up on their own.

A Texas Longhorns fan, as well as a massive New York Giants fan, some of his favorite college players of all time are Arch Manning, Tim Tebow and Reggie Bush.

When he is not working, Ben enjoys watching films (especially Godzilla) and spending time with his cat.

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Edited by Akshay Saraswat