NFL Draft analyst shares his thoughts regarding rumors of a 'circus' surrounding Steelers quarterback prospect Shedeur Sanders

Originally posted on A to Z Sports | By Rob Gregson | Last updated Apr 16, 2025 3:59 PM ET

You don't have to go very far to connect the dots between Shedeur Sanders and the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Visits, reports, and mutual interest, there are a lot of signs that Sanders could end up in Pittsburgh.

And if he does, Mel Kiper says to ignore all the noise surrounding him...

Mel Kiper Defends Shedeur Sanders' Character

"Shedeur never pointed fingers, never assigned blame to anybody...Shedeur thinks like a pro," Kiper said, appearing on NFL Ntework's The Insiders on Tuesday. "He acts like a pro... All that garbage about 'the circus, you don't want that. ' There's no 'circus' coming with Shedeur. The only thing that's coming is professionalism, class, and great football...

"You guys know, nobody worked harder than Deion [Sanders]," Kiper said. "Nobody prepared more. Nobody was loved more in that locker room than Deion, both as a football player and as a baseball player with the Atlanta Braves."

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The facts of the matter are that Sanders rubbed some people the wrong way when he called out his offensive line in a YouTube video while training with presumptive number one overall pick Cam Ward, and when he went viral on Twitter-X for saying he had never heard of one of his former teammates that enetered the transfer portal.

Part of the media narrative he receives is purely because he is the son of not only one of the greatest NFL players, but also one of the flashiest, and most verbose. And while it remains to be seen if Shedeur can follow his father in the former category, he already copies him in the latter.

That rubs people the wrong way.

A lot of teams are old school in their thought process. Right or wrong, they don't want a QB who's all about flash and bravado and comes off as an attention seeker, even if he actually just loves football and wants to be great.

"Win now, talk later." Sanders shares some of the same criticism that players who do commercials before winning anything of significance get. It doesn't mean he has a 'circus' surrounding him or that he can't be good, simply that people want their quarterback's play on the field to do all the talking, not their words.