The spectacle of New York City tests the limits of every hyperbole used in its name. It's only hyperbolic if it isn't true, and for better or worse, New York is different.
This is a city that parades its champions and discards its losers; that drums up high expectations and churns out the unworthy. Aaron Rodgers couldn't save the New York Jets. Eli Manning, in a small enough radius, will always be greater than Tom Brady.
The stakes of playing quarterback in the sport's biggest market – in the center of the country's cultural machinations – are unrivaled. So when the New York Giants have the third pick in the NFL Draft and no starting quarterback, the spotlight can be blinding.
When New York fills in its draft card on April 24, it likely won't have Miami quarterback Cam Ward's name on it. After the NFL Scouting Combine and the opening waves of free agency, he's presumed to be the No. 1 pick to the Tennessee Titans. At No. 3, though, Colorado quarterback Shedeur Sanders remains in contention to fill Manning's shoes and return New York to (football) relevance.
The son of Pro Football Hall of Famer Deion Sanders, Shedeur has brought success to Jackson State and Colorado and hopes to do the same for whichever team calls his name. There are questions, fair or not, about his personality and leadership skills, exacerbated by the attention his father brings. ESPN's Louis Riddick isn't worried about answering them, revealing the key to his potential success as the Giants quarterback.
"Shedeur, in particular, is uniquely equipped to handle the media firestorm that's going to surround him. A lot of it is going to be directed at him simply because of what his last name is, and how big and larger than life his father is," Riddick said on ESPN's "Get Up" (h/t On3). "A lot of it is going to trickle down to him, but Deion's telling you you're wasting your time because he is uniquely qualified to and he has been schooled to deal with the kind of nonsense that's going to come his way."
To borrow a phrase from Gotham, other passers adopt the bright lights and attention as they transition to the NFL. Sanders was born in it, molded by it.
None of Sanders' peers share that characteristic. They may flourish in the league and take it by storm, set it ablaze like Jayden Daniels did for the Washington Commanders in 2024. But dealing with the fast track to stardom and first exit to anger in the Big Apple is something Sanders is uniquely suited for.
Related: Giants Draft Target Has 'Plan' To Turn New York Around
Pressure, in the off-field sense, shouldn't be an issue for the Colorado quarterback. Pressure on the field might.
One of the biggest hurdles Sanders will have to clear in his leap to the NFL is his worrying pressure to sack rate. Burdened by a bad offensive line, Sanders has been forced to make plays out of structure, sometimes with ambitious movements that bigger, faster, and stronger defenders won't let him get away with.
Sanders lacks the physical tools of Ward and many other first-round passers of recent memory, and if he doesn't do enough to make up for it intangibly and within structure, it won't matter how he answers questions in his press conferences.
Related: Giants GM Reacts to Shedeur's No-Throw at Combine
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This story was originally published March 21, 2025 at 5:30 PM.