Few would argue that Cleveland Browns rookie quarterback Shedeur Sanders is already one of the more polarizing players in the NFL.
Sanders, who was projected to be a first-round pick in the 2025 NFL draft back in April, has had a chip on his shoulder ever since the Browns took him with the 144th overall pick, putting an end to one of the more shocking draft slides in recent memory.
In the weeks leading up to the draft, there were several reports that Sanders had bad interviews and came across as arrogant when he spoke to a few NFL teams that he didn't believe would draft him.
There was also reportedly a pre-draft incident between Sanders and New York Giants head coach Brian Daboll, according to The Ringer's Todd McShay, in which Daboll called out Sanders for not being prepared to walk through an install package, resulting in Sanders having a bit of an attitude.
There's even been reports from several people in NFL circles since the draft that have claimed the NFL purposely told teams not to draft Sanders. That theory gained a little more credibility on Thursday when legendary Los Angeles Rams running back Eric Dickerson admitted on "The Dan Patrick Show" that he also heard the league purposely tried to tank Sanders' draft stock.
"What I heard from someone who's in the NFL [is] that the NFL told [teams], 'Don't draft him. Do not draft him, we're going to make an example out of him,'" Dickerson said.
"And this came from a very good source, and he said that—I won't say who—somebody called the Cleveland Browns and said, 'Don't do that — draft him,' because they weren't going to draft him either."
Dickerson's remarks seem to put Browns owner Jimmy Haslam's previous comments about drafting Sanders into a different light.
Haslam was asked about the decision to take the former Colorado QB, to which he boldly stated drafting Sanders was actually general manager Andrew Berry's decision.
"If you would've told me Friday night driving home, 'Y'all are going to pick Shedeur,' I would've said, 'That's not happening,'" Haslam said, via Cleveland.com's Mary Kay Cabot.
"But we had a conversation early that morning, and we had a conversation later that day — I think we had the right people involved in that conversation. And at the end of the day, that's Andrew Berry's call. Andrew made the call to pick Shedeur."
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