ESPN Analyst Calls Out Shedeur Sanders 'Smear Campaign'

Shedeur Sanders has been a polarizing NFL prospect for a while now and some of his decisions before and during the NFL Scouting Combine have only further pushed teams away from him.

But for one ESPN analyst and former NFL executive, the level of discourse around Sanders has gotten out of hand.

Appearing on the Dan Patrick Show, NFL analysts and former pro personnel director Louis Riddick was a guest discussing Sanders' draft stock. When the eponymous host Dan Patrick asked Riddick about the ongoing "smear campaign" against Sanders, Riddick asserted that - much like his famous father Deion Sanders - people find "flashy guys like that who can back it up" hard to tolerate. He recalled Primetime being a polarizing player during their playing days and believes that teams are treating Shedeur similarly.

“People have been at this game… trying to talk certain prospects down for years,” Riddick said. “Deion (Sanders) is a lightning rod. That’s where it starts — it doesn’t even start with Shedeur, this starts with his father and then it just trickles down to him.

“It’s been that way since I played with Deion back in 1992… People don’t like flashy guys like that who can back it up. They just don’t… With Deion, he’s always been a polarizing player to the people who don’t know him… With Shedeur, he has some of his father in him, there’s no question. How could he not? He’s the man’s son.”